“Unacceptable,” was how Darlington assistant manager Darren Holloway described

Quakers’ performance on Saturday, battered 5-0 by Buxton and it could have been a higher scoreline.

Recent performances have been encouraging, a win and two draws suggesting improvements were being made.

But Saturday was a debacle. From the first minute Quakers were woeful, particularly in defence, and deserved their heavy defeat.

To make matters worse, central defender Jake Lawlor was shown a straight red for denying a goal scoring opportunity in the second half when the score was already 3-0.

Holloway was in charge in the absence of manager Alun Armstrong; unavailable for “personal reasons”, is the official line from the club.

Like the travelling fans, Holloway was left bemused by a dreadful performance that was on a level with the horror show at Telford 18 months ago, when Armstrong came close to quitting.

“It wasn’t a performance the lads can be proud of,” said Holloway.

“Performances haven’t been bad in the other games this season, but Saturday’s wasn’t one of them. None of the lads from one to 11 were at the races and when it’s like that, you get what you deserve.

“Buxton were on the front foot a lot more than we were, they were aggressive a lot more than we were. Buxton got their noses ahead, and took control.

“The goals we conceded were sloppy, there were plenty of things we could have cut out. It was one of the days when the lads from 1 to 11 weren’t at it.

“We had a few words at half time, and we spoke about it again after the game. It’s not acceptable, and the lads know that. A few different words were said in the dressing room, and some of them were hitting the nail on the head. Those were words that myself and the gaffer don’t want to have associated with the teams we put out.”

Quakers couldn’t cope with Buxton’s attacks on their 3G surface. The first goal came on ten minutes. Jake Wright ran unchallenged from the halfway line and laid the ball off to Sam Osborne, who took a touch and bent the ball around Darlington keeper Tommy Taylor into the bottom corner.

It was 2-0 down on 35 minutes. Connor Kirby ran into the Darlington area, and even though there were two defenders plus Taylor between him and the goal, somehow the ball found its way through to Osborne to tap in from a couple of yards.

A minute later, the defence opened up again when Osborne collected a through ball, sidestepped a defender and then Taylor to complete his first half hat-trick.

Darlington nearly got a goal back just on half time, but Mitchell Curry’s flick from an Andrew Nelson cross was cleared off the line, and then a minute after the break, Nelson half volleyed wide.

But the contest was all over on 51 minutes when Jak McCourt found space on the left to curl a shot against the bar, and just as Eoin McKeown was going to head in, he was tugged back by Darlington defender Lawlor, who was shown a red card after the referee consulted his assistant. McCourt scored from the spot.

After that, it was damage limitation. Jake Hull headed over, Taylor saved from Diego de Girolamo, but in stoppage time, De Girolamo got the fifth at the second attempt after the defence was carved open again.

Quakers can only hope they repair the damage at home to Boston tomorrow evening.