Darlington manager Alun Armstrong apologised to the fans after his team caved in at the start of the second half at bottom of the table Telford.

Armstrong was clearly emotional and upset after the game, in which Quakers disintegrated in a mad 15 minutes at the start of the second half.

Like everybody else from Darlington, he hadn’t seen that performance coming, especially as they had won their previous away game 6-0 at Farsley.

“That was absolutely shocking, and I apologise to the fans,” he said. “I never saw that performance coming, and I don’t think anybody else did.

“It seems to be a recurring theme, and that’s something I’m really annoyed about. You get a couple of good performances and then you’re down to absolute rubbish in the second half. Everyone knows that the players can do it, just like they did at Farsley, but it’s so frustrating when that happens.

“I thought we dominated the first half, but for some reason the lads didn’t shoot or get on the end of things. Telford got a penalty out of nothing when we should have been 1-0 up. A corner came in from Jack Lambert, it bounced only a yard out and nobody got on the end of it.

“I’m pulling teeth out and it’s doing my head in at this moment in time.”

While Quakers weren’t at their best in the first half, they’d certainly done enough to be at least level at half time.

Telford looked like a fragile bottom of the table side that was short of confidence and ideas. The visitors created some good chances, but perhaps overplayed at times. Alex Purver had a 25-yarder deflected wide, and Jake Cassidy had a header from a Danny Rose corner saved by Telford keeper Russ Griffiths.

The keeper also went full-length to push away a powerful shot by Lambert from the edge of the area, and then was completely beaten when Lambert chipped him, but the ball landed on the roof of the net.

And another chance went begging when Lambert curled a right-wing corner across the six-yard box but nobody was on hand to tap in.

Telford took the lead against the run of play just before half time.

Kai Williams broke into the box and went down under a challenge by Kallum Griffiths, who claimed, with some justification, that Williams had dived.

Brendon Daniels sent Tommy Taylor the wrong way from the spot.

There was a feeling at half time that Quakers would bounce back, but instead they imploded at the start of the second half.

“The second half was absolutely abysmal, and for those 15 minutes absolutely shambolic defending,” admitted Armstrong.

“I missed the second goal right at the start of the second half. because I hadn’t come out of the dressing room, it was embarrassing.

“Everything I’d said at half time went out the window. That got Telford’s tails up, and we crumbled.”

Within 30 seconds of the restart, Telford were 2-0 up when Jason Oswell played the ball through for Williams to beat Taylor with a right foot shot that went across him into the net.

It was 3-0 ten minutes later, when the Quakers’ defence made a mess of getting the ball out of their final third and Daniels set up Mace Goodridge to side-foot home.

And the home fans were celebrating again on the hour when Goodridge, who had found space inside the penalty area from a Daniels free kick 25 yards out, drove the ball towards the six-yard box where it was helped into the net in an attempt to clear by Danny Rose.

The last five minutes made a bad day even worse. Darlington sub Joe Wheatley was sent off for a foul on Goodridge on the halfway line, and in added time Williams scored the goal of the match when he dribbled through the defence and lashed the ball past Taylor.

Armstrong’s final verdict was: “We can’t accept that, and I’ve got to shoulder the responsibility for allowing it to happen. We had the same happen at Southport earlier in the season. Something’s not right, and something’s got to change.”