Braintree Town 3 Darlington 1

Darlington's awful start to the season shows no sign of improvement as a lacklustre performance saw them sink to their eighth defeat of the season today, losing at Braintree Town.

The Essex side avenged their defeat on the first day of the season at The Northern Echo Arena by winning 3-1 on a day in which Quakers were woeful for the most part.

They were weak in attack and slack in defence and as a result drop to 14th in the table.

Manager Mark Cooper had sought a reaction to the midweek home defeat to Barrow by making three changes, which included dropping Liam Hatch and giving a full debut to new striker Nialle Rodney.

But Rodney's impact was minimal and he was not the only one who saw the game pass him by during a drab first half that saw the game there for the taking.

But Braintree took the initiative with their first two goals coming via poorly defended set-pieces.

The first was after a free-kick just before the break that centre-back David Stevens prodded home at the far post after evading his marker, Graeme Lee.

And it was 2-0 soon after the restart when Kenny Davis was left completely unmarked by Aaron Brown.

Quakers were under the cosh and by that stage had yet to force Braintree keeper Nathan McDonald into a save, but Braintree added a killer third goal coming on 58 minutes.

It came after attacking the space left vacant when right-back Greg Taylor lost possession in opposition territory and led to striker Ben Wright being shepherded away from goal by Exodus Geohagon. Wright played the ball infield to Brad Quinton whose shot was partially stopped by keeper Ole Soderberg, but Sean Marks was on hand to tap home.

With half an hour to play the game was as good as over. The hosts looking likely to score, but Darlington marginally improved with the introduction of substitute striker James Gray.

Fellow sub John McReady also made an impact, and finally Quakers pulled a goal back on 80 minutes.

After Chris Atkinson's corner was cleared to captain Jamie Chandler, he played the ball back in for Taylor to head across to the far post where Lee converted with a downwards header.

As in the midweek defeat to Barrow, Darlington finished with a flourish, but it was too little, too late and the display left Cooper seething.

He laid the blame at the team's more experienced players saying: “Maybe it's time to get rid of the old fogies because there's four or five who are not that bothered.”

Goals: Stevens (44, 1-0), Davis (51, 2-0), Marks (58, 3-0); Lee (80, 3-1)

Bookings: Lee (41, foul); Yiadom (72, handball)

Referee: Andy Davies (Hampshire)

Attendance: 864

Braintree Town (4-4-2): McDonald; Peters, Stevens, Paine, Thomas; Yiadom (Vose 84), Quinton (Symons 90), Davis, Reason; Marks, Wright (McCammon 90). Subs (not used): Jones (gk), Bailey-Dennis

Darlington (4-4-2): Soderberg; G Taylor, Lee, Geohagon, Brown; Rundle (McReady 72), Atkinson, Chandler, K Taylor (J Gray 52); Rodney (Hatch 46), Bowman. Subs (not used): Russell (gk), Brough