STEVE WATSON felt there was little between the two sides as Darlington's season began with a 2-1 home defeat to Kidderminster.

The visitors, who are managed by former Hartlepool full back Phil Brown and were relegated from the National League last season, had fewer chances than Quakers but were more clinical.

Kidderminster are probably going to be among the promotion chasers, so Darlington have plenty to be positive about despite their opening-day loss.

“I thought there was nothing in the game,” said Watson. “I thought we matched them in most departments, they were just more clinical when they had their chances.

“They didn’t put the ball at risk as much as we do at times. When there’s a chance to score a goal, by all means, but in general play we don’t need to score all the time. I thought we gave possession away more than we should have.

“Of course, I’m disappointed that we lost, but I wasn’t thinking afterwards that there’s a huge void between us and Kidderminster. I thought we acquitted ourselves well and there was a lot I liked about the game.

“There are fine lines in football. They had a couple of chances that they took, we had numerous chances that we couldn’t quite finish or bundle in.”

Darlington had a chance to take the lead on 11 minutes on the counter-attack when Cedric Main burst down the right-hand side, held off two challenges and hit a right-foot shot straight at Kidderminster keeper Christian Dibble.

They had another chance when Jarrett Rivers curled a corner over from the right for the impressive Jack Maskell to head powerfully towards goal, but the ball was scrambled away by a defender a couple of yards out.

Kidderminster took the lead on 21 minutes when Maz Kouhyar created space for himself to cross from the left to the far post where Amari Morgan-Smith got away from his marker and headed across Pete Jameson into the net.

Maskell again found space well on 29 minutes when he got between two defenders on the end of a Ben Hedley cross from the left and headed towards the bottom corner, but Dibble saved at full stretch with his left hand.

Quakers nearly left the back door open when Caleb Richards crossed from the left for Zak Brown to side-foot over the top, but they had a penalty shout turned down just on half-time when Hedley crossed for Maskell to head down and Main went down when he was challenged by Dibble, but the referee waved play on.

There was a sense of anticipation every time Maskell got the ball, and at the start of the second half he had an effort charged down from a Ben Hedley pass, then he made a good powerful run past two defenders and just failed to find sub Matty Cornish.

Main, who caused Kidderminster problems with his strength throughout the game, had an effort charged down as Quakers continued to look for the equaliser.

Cornish had a real impact on the game. He popped up on his own goalline to clear a glancing header, and in the next moment Maskell set him up to strike a 25-yarder that Dibble saved at the second attempt. The midfielder also made a good run and created a chance for Maskell, who fired straight at Dibble from the edge of the area.

Kidderminster stretched their lead on 82 minutes when Ash Hemmings threaded the ball through for Maz Kouhyar to latch on to – although Morgan-Smith stepped over the ball as he ran back from an offside position – and he ran on and slotted the ball into the bottom-right corner past Jameson.

Quakers pulled a goal back to set up a frantic finish when Will Hatfield cleverly chipped a free-kick over the wall from 20 yards and past a helpless Dibble.

Kidderminster were too well-organised for Quakers to break them down again, and the only chance they had was a half-hit effort by sub Andrew Nelson from the edge of the area.