ALUN Armstrong admits he's been left "flummoxed" by Darlington's defending on the back of the "horrendous" midweek defeat to lowly Farsley Celtic.

In a scathing assessment of the 3-1 loss, Armstrong said he was baffled as to how the same backline that kept a clean sheet in the home win over Hereford could concede three "joke" goals at Farsley.

Quakers were two goals down at the break but gave themselves hope when Alex Purver halved the deficit just after the midway stage of the second half. At that stage Armstrong fancied his side to not only level but to go on and win it. But Darlington then gifted the hosts a third goal.

It was an opportunity wasted for Darlington in the National League North play-off race.

"With the ball it wasn't bad but without the ball Jesus Christ, it was horrendous defensively," said Armstrong.

"They didn't need to do anything to score the goals but how many times have I said it? You put the different personnel in there. It was the same team that kept a clean sheet on Saturday and then that back four you'd have thought was four different lads. That's the baffling thing and it's got me flummoxed at the minute, when you go from Saturday to that.

"It's so annoying. We still had opportunities. I had a chat with them at half-time and told them the next goal was massive. And we're well on top, got the goal, still well on top, they'd gone, they'd used all their energy and gone into a back six. Then that third goal was an absolute killer and an absolute joke."

Armstrong has worked at length with the defenders on the training ground, which makes the continued errors all the more difficult to stomach.

He said: "It's not just the centre of defence, it's the whole back four, that was chalk and cheese between Saturday and now.

"Do you change personnel again? We haven't asked them to do anything different. How many times do we have to keep doing the work for them? These are young lads who want to get a foothold in the game at a higher level and they're not going to if they don't learn quickly.

"It's one of them games. It's so frustrating because it was a massive opportunity. We still have two games to open the gap but we're not going to if we play like that."

Armstrong will be looking for a reaction from his players as Darlington head to struggling Kettering on Saturday.