DARLINGTON manager Tommy Wright admitted that his team’s performance wasn’t good enough against Stockport County as they slipped into the bottom four of the table.

There was plenty of effort from Quakers, but no end product as they fired a blank for the third successive game, and also suffered their fourth home league defeat of the season.

Wright was clearly annoyed and upset after the 1-0 defeat with his players, and questioned some of their decision-making and unauthorised change of tactics near the end of the game.

He was the most critical he has been of his players since he took over nearly a year ago.

“We’ve only got ourselves to blame, we carved out some good opportunities in the first half and people made bad decisions,” he said. “Stychey (Reece Styche) knows I’m talking about him, he knows you can’t do that when he tried to lob the keeper.

“I said to him at half and at full time, that games have defining moments, and the chance he had when he was one-on-one was a big moment for us.

“The referee played a part in the second defining moment of the game when he booked their lad for a tackle, and then shortly after he handled a through-ball, he had to go – but he didn’t. Games are won and lost on key moments, and those two key moments affected us.

“Stockport went 1-0 up, and we look as if we don’t have a goal in us. We genuinely don’t. I thought we were too keen to get the ball forward the minute Simon Ainge went on the pitch, and that wasn’t mine and Alan White’s decision to shell it all over the place.

“I thought some of our decision-making on the pitch was bad at times from one to 11. We won’t change what we do. Nothing we do in training involves smashing the ball 50 yards. For some reason, whether it’s a lack of confidence I don’t know, but the ball seems like a hot potato at times.

“You can’t force the issue, you can’t force people to receive the ball or make the passes. The players do that naturally in training, we encourage it, we applaud them for doing it. They showed it in flashes. The fans at the start of the game were all over us and they appreciated that we were trying and played some good football.

“But the minute we went 1-0 down, I thought the atmosphere in the ground changed - and I don’t blame the fans. I know they’re frustrated, I’m frustrated, the time for excuses is done. I can’t keep saying that they’re good players, because good players win games of football. Good players don’t sit one place above the relegation zone. The gap’s getting too big now to make the season a success. People have got to start putting action into place because at the minute, and as a lot of people are telling me, it’s not good enough."

Quakers started brightly and should have taken the lead after 12 minutes. Midfielder Joe Wheatley, on his return to the side, found Styche in the clear with just keeper Ben Hinchliffe to beat.

The top scorer tried to dummy the keeper, but Hinchliffe read his intentions, and neatly caught his attempted lob to everyone’s dismay. Styche had a more difficult chance from the edge of the box after that, but fired just over, and then put another, just as difficult, over the top with a shot on the turn from a Dave Syers lay off.

Stockport took the lead on 29 minutes when Nyal Bell controlled a low cross on the left side of the box, ran away from goal and then found the space to quickly turn and fire the ball into the bottom corner.

Stockport sat deeper in the second half against the breeze and soaked up the pressure, with Quakers unable to find much of a way through despite all their hard work.

Styche put a shot over the bar after a good run, and in a frantic finish, during which Darlington won their only corner - Stockport had 11 - he and sub Jordan Nicholson both had shots charged down in a crowded penalty area.

Wheatley nearly grabbed a point with a vicious right footed free kick from the corner of the box that Hinchliffe just managed to fist away.

Wright added: “This is becoming a bit predictable losing 1-0 at home. Our fanbase is dwindling and we’re now getting stick every home game.

"When you finish games the way we do, the fans go home disgruntled. It’s how you end games for me. I don’t think we really put Stockport under pressure, they sat off us and invited pressure, but we made really bad decisions getting the ball into the final third to create something.

“I do think that we can turn things around, but it’s got to start happening sooner rather than later. It’s getting really tiresome making excuses. I don’t see what we do on a Tuesday or a Thursday in training being reflected in games.”

Liam Hughes, who had a solid game at the centre of the Quakers’ defence said: “It was a frustrating afternoon. We lost 1-0 at home to a scrappy goal and we had enough chances to win the game, and I can imagine it’s just as frustrating for the fans as it is for the boys on the pitch.

“We’re working hard, we just need to find something – anything – to get a result.”

Goals: Bell (29, 0-1)

Bookings: Keane, Wheatley

Referee: Steven Copeland (The Wirral)

Attendance 1,507

Darlington: (4-2-3-1) Maddison, Trotman, Galbraith, Hughes, O'Hanlon; Elliott, Wheatley; Syers (Nicholson 64), Thompson, Saunders (Ainge 70); Styche. Subs (not used): Glover, Aaron Burn, Vaulks

Booking: Wheatley

Stockport County (4-4-2): Hinchliffe, Minihan, Duxbury, Keane (Stott 46), Palmer; Cowan, Osbourne, Walker, Stephenson (Thomas 79), Bell, Warburton (DiMaio 88). Subs (not used): Ormson, Mantack