Darlington manager Alun Armstrong admitted that he expected more from his players in their 1-0 home defeat by Kettering Town.

They lost to a second-half goal – there was a debate about whether the scorer, Decarry Sherif, was played onside by a Kallum Griffiths tackle or by a pass from a team-mate – but Armstrong thought his players’ heads had dropped by then.

“There was nothing in the game, but then we got done by a goal which could have been offside,” he said.

“Decisions are going against us at this moment in time, and that’s what happens. We didn’t do enough to win the game. We created more chances than them but didn’t take them. Cass (Jake Cassidy) has got to score his header and for me that changes the game. Jack should have scored in the first half. Little things like that aren’t going our way at this moment in time.

“I expected a lot more. To be fair to the lads, they battled well in the first half, they dug in and dealt with the wind. But in the second half, the turning point was when we missed that chance and the lads’ heads dropped. You’re looking for the lads to gee each other up, and that just wasn’t there.

“You look at the characters in the team, they went quiet and the team went flat. I didn’t like that one little bit. I thought we were a little bit short in the middle of the park.”

Quakers haven’t scored since the 6-0 win at Farsley three weeks ago, when four different players got on the scoresheet and there were chances galore.

Armstrong added: “They’re the same group of players that went to Farsley. Some of the chances we created that day were really good, but now we’re making hard work of creating chances.

“Everything is easy to defend. We’ve got to move the opposition around to create opportunities, and we didn’t do that – we just put the ball in the same areas over and over again.

“We do things in training, and it’s up to the players to do it on the pitch, but for some reason at this moment in time they’re very tentative about putting into practice what we do.”

Armstrong is determined to continue working hard to turn results around.

“I graft and work my socks off, but it’s about results at the end of the day. If we don’t get them, then we know what happens.

“I’m not a quitter, I’ll keep going. Some fans might not like that, some fans will. This club is in a much better place than it was before I took over.

“It can’t go on like this, but hopefully we’ve got enough time to turn things around, it’s up to the lads.”

The gale force wind certainly made sure there was little in the way of entertainment in the first half, despite the hard-working efforts of Danny Rose.

There was only one real chance of note in the first 45 minutes, when Ben Hedley, who did well on his return to the side, struck a free kick over to the far post where it was spilled by Kettering keeper Jackson Smith under pressure from Danny Ellis, but Jack Lambert blazed the ball over the top.

After the interval, Quakers nearly took the lead when Rose chipped the ball into the area for Cassidy to head wide, then Tyrone O’Neill dribbled past two men only to be blocked on the six-yard line.

But on 72 minutes, Kettering keeper Smith cleared the ball upfield, where it was flicked on in the centre circle for Lauric Diakiesse to be challenged by Griffiths, and the ball ran for Sherif to place past Tommy Taylor, with Quakers claiming offside.