UNLIKE the Darlington team coach driver who aided the quick getaway, manager David Hodgson was still asking himself: "Where do we go from here?", long after returning to the North-East on Saturday evening.

After just 18 league games Darlington have already reached a crossroads in their season, having stumbled into their latest dead-end at Macclesfield at the weekend.

Stone-faced, Hodgson hurried through post-match interviews and was on the road with his players by five-past-five - usually a time when the squad is still warming down on the pitch.

Hodgson joked earlier last week that he hoped this would be his last visit to the Moss Rose Ground for a long time - his comments aroused by a club which smacks non-league in every fashion.

But, on the evidence of Saturday's latest charade, a trip to the small town in Cheshire is already looking a distinct probability next season.

The gap between Quakers and the top seven increased to five points after Hodgson's men succumbed to their third straight away league defeat.

As much as the draw with Wycombe seven days earlier demonstrated that Darlington could cut it with the best in League Two, it has merely served to paper over the cracks of a campaign, which has yet to sound any kind of promotion warning.

Of the current 24-man squad, Hodgson has signed 18 players since returning to the club two years ago. But, for all his efforts, the Quakers boss' search for a current day Neil Heaney or Marco Gabbiadini is proving a fruitless one.

Perhaps if Clyde Wijnhard could have adapted to lower league life as well as Gabbiadini, Quakers wouldn't be in their current predicament.

Six weeks after Wijnhard was sacked by Quakers, the enigmatic forward lined up against his former teammates on Saturday.

And, while there was little to suggest Hodgson was wrong to let Wijnhard go, the Quakers boss had more pressing matters to mull over.

"Clyde was the least of our worries," said Hodgson.

"He was our best player in the first half - he gave us the ball that much.

"But it wasn't about Clyde, he's a Macclesfield player now and good luck to him."

Quakers failed to record a single shot at goal in the first half against a Macclesfield side, which has conceded more goals at home than any other in League Two this season.

"The first half performance was disgraceful," fumed Hodgson.

"Macclesfield won every second ball, they got shots on target and they could easily have been a couple of goals up at half-time.

"There was no link-up play between the strikers, we didn't get any crosses in and we come in at half-time losing one-nil."

Taking into account that Wijnhard still shares a house in the North-East with Shelton Martis, Hodgson chose not to name his side until after the Dutchmen had parted their separate ways on Saturday morning.

He revealed: "I didn't want a certain person knowing what our line-up was going to be so I didn't name the side until before two o'clock."

As it turned out, the 3-5-2 formation Hodgson chose to go with was mirrored by Macclesfield, who were able to hand a first league start of the season to Jon Parkin.

Parkin's 26 goals helped the Silkmen reach the League Two play-offs last season and on Saturday his 6ft 4ins bulk caused no end of problems.

It was after out-muscling skipper Matt Clarke in the Quakers box that Parkin was able to provide the assist for the only goal of a game, scored by former Barrow midfielder Kevin McIntyre in the 38th minute.

"I don't understand how Matt managed to lose a centre forward in the box - but he did and they scored from it," said Hodgson.

If Hodgson does decide to pursue his interest in another striker, after recently missing out on Michael Bridges, then a player of Parkin's imposing presence would prove a useful addition.

Hodgson was left to rue the absence of his strikers when it mattered most, saying: "When we did get balls into the box nobody even looked like getting on the end of them.

"Our brain has to be ticking inside, as well as outside of the box."

World Cup winner and former Middlesbrough midfielder Christian Karembeu found the Macclesfield net just as difficult to find when he made a bizarre appearance at half-time to promote the sportswear company, which sponsors the Silkmen.

It was only when Hodgson switched to a 4-4-2 system early in the second half that Quakers finally awoke from their opening 45-minute daze.

Quakers appeared to have more urgency about them after the interval. And, after cries from the 244 visiting fans of "Can we have a shot at goal?", their first "shot" arrived in the 66th minute - Ryan Valentine's first-time effort dropping harmlessly wide.

Russell then reacted quickly to save at the feet of Wijnhard, before Clarke cleared off the line after McIntyre picked up the rebound. Parkin should have wrapped things up when he somehow managed to poke the ball wide from six yards out with just Russell to beat.

But, with just a one-goal deficit, and the second half introduction of Carlos Logan, Quakers posed a bigger attacking threat and could have levelled had Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu opted for accuracy rather than power, rifling his shot narrowly over.

Former Northern Ireland goalkeeper Alan Fettis was then well positioned to fist away David Duke's 25-yard effort as Quakers piled on the pressure with full-time approaching. Fettis then held comfortably from Tresor Kandol's tame header.

And, with virtually the last kick of the game, Ndumbu-Nsunwastefully sliced his shot high over the bar.

Result: Macclesfield Town 1, Darlington 0.