Quakers winning run is halted

HAVING threatened to turn a corner with two wins in the space of five days, Darlington's brief renaissance has rapidly taken them down another dead end.

Beaten at home for the third time this season, Quakers saw their hopes of a rapid route back into the promotion picture blocked by a resolute Barrow.

Adam Boyes' first-half strike, which came via a hefty deflection off Exodus Geohaghan, secured a deserved victory for the Cumbrians, who defended stoutly throughout and posed enough of a threat on the counter-attack to warrant the win.

Darlington, on the other hand, were largely devoid of invention but suffered from an inability to hold up the ball and a failure to turn promising positions into genuine goalscoring opportunities.

"It's very frustrating because I can't even begin to add up the number of times the ball went into the box," said manager Mark Cooper. "If you put that many balls into the box and don't score then you've got to be asking questions of your centre-forwards and I'm asking those questions now.

"There was a ridiculous number of balls into the box, but we didn't score and ultimately that's what counts.

"It's all about goalscorers. If we'd had someone like (York's) Jason Walker in that side, he would probably have scored four or five goals, but there you go, we haven't."

Having named an unchanged side for the second game in a row, Cooper was clearly trying to follow the blueprint that had been established in Saturday's 1-0 win over Kidderminster.

But while that blueprint rightly features the threat posed by Geohaghan's long throws, there is already a danger of Darlington relying almost exclusively on the defender's exocet deliveries.

Three times in the opening 22 minutes Geohaghan flung an arrowed throw under the crossbar; three times Barrow goalkeeper Danny Hurst just about dealt with the danger.

Beyond Geohaghan, however, Darlington failed to pose much of an attacking threat, with a series of crosses and through balls leading to nothing.

James Walshaw fired straight at Hurst after breaking into the inside-right channel, but the hosts struggled to construct cohesive passing moves that involved their midfield.

Barrow, on the other hand, attacked slickly, dropping deep to soak up pressure and breaking with pace and purpose when the situation allowed.

Jonatan Sanchez-Munoz, a match-winner three days earlier, was particularly vulnerable to the movement of attacking duo Boyes and Andy Cook, and was substituted as early as the 17th minute, with Cooper furious about a perceived lack of professionalism from the Spaniard.

"He's let himself down badly," he said. "Ten minutes before kick-off, he let us know he felt dizzy. Apparently, he's not eaten anything since 12 o'clock and we don't know why. He said he was dizzy and struggling to see the ball and after such a high on Saturday he's been very unprofessional."

Michael Brough replaced Sanchez-Munoz, but was unable to prevent Barrow claiming the lead within six minutes of his introduction.

The goal was a polished one, with Cook turning adroitly past Kris Taylor to play in Jack Macreth, the winger squaring intelligently for Boyes, and the striker volleying home crisply with the aid of a deflection off Geohaghan.

Boyes, a former Middlesbrough trainee who hails from Lingdale, in Cleveland, now boasts 11 goals for the season. Take away last week's win at Stockport, and the whole of the Darlington team have scored 13.

Cook, who was raised in Ferryhill, has almost been as prolific, and he came close to adding to his weekend hat-trick over Hayes & Yeading four minutes after the interval, shooting narrowly over after turning past Brough.

Darlington saw plenty of the ball in the second half and upped the tempo of their play considerably, but their lack of creativity should have been punished conclusively in the 65th minute.

The hosts' back four failed to pick up Cook as he raced on to Richie Baker's curled free-kick, but from a position inside the six-yard box, the striker powered his header over the crossbar.

Walshaw was similarly profligate shortly after, blazing away wildly from 20 yards, but Darlington were a little unfortunate when Barrow defender Mike Pearson escaped unpunished despite appearing to handle Aaron Brown's cross.

To their credit, Quakers finished much the stronger, but substitute Ryan Bowman failed to find the target with a glanced header from Adam Rundle's stoppage-time cross.

Darlington will play Hinckley in the FA Cup fourth qualifying round a week on Saturday after the Blue Square North side beat Leek Town 2-1 after extra-time.

MATCHFACTS

Goals: Boyes (23, 0-1)

Bookings: Hatch (25, deliberate handball), Brough (45, foul), Atkinson (64, foul), Boyes (90, foul)

Referee: Jeremy Simpson (Lancaster) 4

Attendance: 1,786

Entertainment: 2/5

DARLINGTON (4-4-2): Soderberg 5; G Taylor 6, Geohaghan 6, Sanchez-Munoz 3 (Brough 17, 5), K Taylor 5 (McReady 54, 5); Rundle 6, ATKINSON 7, Chandler 6, Brown 6; Hatch 4, Walshaw 4 (Bowman 68, 5). Subs (not used): Russell (gk), Bridge-Wilkinson.

BARROW (4-4-2): Hurst 7; Smith 6, Pearson 7, HOLLIS 8, Skelton 6; Macreth 6, Baker 5, Owen 6, Rowe 5 (Nicholls 90); Cook 7, Boyes 7. Subs (not used): Clancy (gk), Rutherford, Ferrell, Almond.

Man Of The Match

HAYDN Hollis - the Barrow centre-half dominated the aerial battle with Liam Hatch and James Walshaw.