As robberies go, this defeat was hardly on the scale of a £50m raid, but there was certainly no justice for Darlington who matched promotion-chasing Leyton Orient but without reward.

The result means the clock is ticking on Darlington's play-off hopes and they could not have timed their worst run of the season for a more inopportune time.

Although they endured a poor run earlier in the campaign, at least they were recording the occasional draw whereas now it is three defeats on the spin. In the space of a fortnight promotion hopes have faded from strong to slim.

Six points separate Quakers from seventh but it could easily have been less as Darlington were worthy of a point on Saturday.

Sam Russell's first half penalty save meant Quakers went in at half-time only one goal down when really it was the visitors who, with a little more luck and composure in front of goal, could have been leading.

Matty Appleby's injury time red card came too late to affect the game but the harsh dismissal was typical of Darlington's afternoon.

The only goal, an excellent Shane Tudor strike on 13 minutes, came against the run of play during an impressive first 45 in which chances went begging, but sometimes you just know it is not going to be your day.

Given Quakers' recent bad form, the injuries and their history of failure at Brisbane Road surely even the most optimistic of the 403 Darlington fans present on Saturday were not too hopeful of victory.

It's now 16 successive visits without a win, including the defeat at Orient in 1999/00 which signalled the beginning of a poor run that cost Quakers automatic promotion.

Bobby Moore and pals had lifted the World Cup only ten weeks before Darlington's last win at Leyton Orient.

"It's been 40 years since we won here and it's going to be another 40 if we carry on having games like that," said manager David Hodgson.

"Right now I don't give a damn about the table because all I care about at this moment is that these players gave everything but come away with nothing.

"I won't have to lift them because they know that they deserved something.''

Injuries to Joe Kendrick and Matt Clarke following the return of Kyle Lafferty back to Burnley necessitated the need for another loan signing which meant a debut for former Middlesbrough defender Robbie Stockdale.

Darlington's 33rd player this season - compared to 29 all last year - arrived on Friday on loan from Hull City and replaced Ryan Valentine who switched to the opposite flank while Appleby replaced Clarke as both left-sided centre-back and as captain.

Striker Guy Bates and midfielder Neale McDermott made their first starts as the disruption to the starting XI continued.

A reliance on stopgap loan signings, signing players on short-term contracts as well as constant injuries means that only once has Hodgson kept the same team from the previous game.

But the four changes to the side saw Quakers vastly improve from the previous week's performance to Shrewsbury.

McDermott played on the left with Jonjo Dickman on the right as Darlington used a diamond formation with Carlos Logan behind the front two.

It worked in the first half with Clark Keltie seeing plenty of the ball and he started most of Quakers' attacks with simple passing that carved up Orient.

Hodgson said: "We said at half-time that if we could create as many chances in the second half as we did in the first then we could go three or four up.

"Considering we had to change things around so much I have no qualms with that performance because in the first half Orient could not deal with our system.

"I am happy with the performance and the number of chances we created so I have no gripe with any of our players, and the commitment was there."

Twice Cooke came close to scoring inside the first ten minutes.

First when Gabriel Zakuani got the slightest of touches to divert a Bates cross when Cooke was ready to head home and then when about to tap into the net only for keeper Glyn Garner to claw the ball away having spilled Bates' shot.

But then came only Orient's second attack and with it their goal.

Right-winger Tudor gave Ryan Valentine a torrid time in the first half and he cut inside before firing across goal with his left-foot into the top corner.

The same player almost created a second minutes later when he beat Valentine and Appleby before passing to Gary Alexander but the striker mis-kicked from six yards.

Two minutes before the break Russell kept Quakers in the contest by saving Matthew Lockwood's penalty, awarded after former Darlington target Paul Connor was tripped by Shelton Martis.

It was the fifth spot kick the Dutchman has been responsible for but Russell saved him any further embarrassment by diving low to keep it 1-0. Lockwood's spot-kick was only the second of 27 penalties he has ever missed.

After Darlington's midfield diamond had the upper hand in the first half, Orient got to grips in the second period with Keltie not seeing as much of the ball.

The closest Quakers came was through Dickman and Martis who had shots blocked.

It was almost 2-0 when Russell spilled Jabo Ibehre's long range effort but he recovered quickly enough to tip Connor's follow-up over the bar as the game heated up in the closing stages with referee Jonathan Moss seeing fit to show six yellow cards in the last 20.

Having been cautioned for dissent earlier, Appleby's second booking for a trip on Justin Miller capped off the day.

Darlington are now five points off their total at this stage last season and need to quickly rack up some victories or face slipping into mid-table mediocrity.

Only once have Quakers won back-to-back matches this season - a statistic that has got to change if Darlington are to save their season.

Result; Leyton Orient: 1, Darlington 0.

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