Darlington had another wasted trip to the South-West yesterday when their game at Torquay was postponed just over an hour before kick-off.

Nineteen Darlington supporters were left fuming after enduring a seven-hour coach ride, only to discover the match had been called off because of a rain-sodden pitch shortly upon arrival.

One of them, Steve Keaney said: "It was a long way to go for nothing, but we couldn't blame the referee.

"As soon as we reached Exeter there was a deluge and when we saw the pitch it was no surprise that the game was off."

Torquay had trained on the Plainmoor pitch in bright sunshine in the morning, but the heavens opened in mid afternoon and by the time Quakers arrived at 6.15pm there was standing water on several areas of the pitch.

Referee Mr Jordan from Tring called the game off after the Met Office advised that there was little prospect of the rain relenting.

Quakers have now had four games postponed this season within three hours of kick-off - the most notorious being the wasted trip to Exeter on December 30.

Darlington manager Gary Bennett said: "We've got no arguments about the game being called off, but it's very frustrating and it does give us a problem about when to fit it in."

l Darlington Reserves are in action tonight against Grimsby at Feethams and will give an outing to on-trial goalkeeper Peter Keen.