Match thread anyone?

[theoriginalfatcat]

If anyone writes "there will be plenty more twists and turns before the end of the season" bollocks

- I'll shoot my big toe off (left foot)

[SwansQuaker83]

sounds like Ray Simpson summed it up. We raised the tempo, got back to 2-2 then let it drop...why?!?!

Fitness? Too many games?

[QUAKERMAN2]

I had White down for player of the season but to be honest not bothered if he pulls on a Darlo shirt again and Gray has to take some responsibility for his indiscipline IMO.Whats the betting we get Spenny in the playoffs, you just know it.

[notgnilrad]

Or its still in our hands. (not till we are 3 points ahead it isnt.)

[Darlogramps]

There will be plenty more twists and turns before the end of the season.

I want photo evidence of your left foot theoriginalfatcat.

[dfcchris]

Predictable we are!!!!
White....as per usual = liability and can't control himself. Does he never learn. Absolute liability.

[SwansQuaker83]

Predictable we are!!!!
White....as per usual = liability and can't control himself. Does he never learn. Absolute liability.

Has to be dropped when his ban is over.

[SwansQuaker83]

Or its still in our hands. (not till we are 3 points ahead it isnt.)

Always better to have the points. There's now huge pressure on to at least go level. The way things are going I'd be happy to go a point clear with 4 points from 6...

[shawry]

It's all well and good saying Whites a liability because of his indiscipline, however all the goals came before the sending off, and if we concede 3 then we deserve fuck all anyway

[QUAKERMAN2]

Gray has to put another central midfielder in the team and sacrifice an attacking player to stop us leaking goals and also has to try and utilise Thommo better by playing him possibly as a striker or just behind the front 2.He is far too talented to be stuck out on the wing and should be more central as he can be a big threat for us. Out of interest how many goals has Dowson scored this season , 2 at best I would say, not good enough at this level.

[D_F_C]

This is who we have left with their current positions

Darlington vs. Bamber Bridge 6th - just signed Jon Macken and have Paul Mckenna
Clitheroe vs. Darlington 13th
Darlington vs. Lancaster City 12th but we only took a point off last season
Darlington vs. Northwich Victoria 3rd - still fighting for title, Jim Gannon in charge
Darlington vs. Prescot Cables 20th should be 3 points, but only drew last year
New Mills vs. Darlington 21st should be 3 points
Warrington Town vs. Darlington 10th but hit good form recently
Northwich Victoria vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. Droylsden 7th, dropped off but still will give us a game
Scarborough Athletic vs. Darlington 4th - beaten them twice but they've improved
Darlington vs. Mossley AFC 11th, no pushovers
Lancaster City vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. New Mills as above

[QUAKERMAN2]

This is who we have left with their current positions

Darlington vs. Bamber Bridge 6th - just signed Jon Macken and have Paul Mckenna
Clitheroe vs. Darlington 13th
Darlington vs. Lancaster City 12th but we only took a point off last season
Darlington vs. Northwich Victoria 3rd - still fighting for title, Jim Gannon in charge
Darlington vs. Prescot Cables 20th should be 3 points, but only drew last year
New Mills vs. Darlington 21st should be 3 points
Warrington Town vs. Darlington 10th but hit good form recently
Northwich Victoria vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. Droylsden 7th, dropped off but still will give us a game
Scarborough Athletic vs. Darlington 4th - beaten them twice but they've improved
Darlington vs. Mossley AFC 11th, no pushovers
Lancaster City vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. New Mills as above

That's a frightening run in to be honest given the way we are playing, tell you what I would take a play off place now if it was offered, forget finishing top.

[Bogratsteve]

I never thought Amar would be this badly missed, MG needs to match the team to the tactics, not pick the best XI and then not play to their strengths, big job to be done by our coaching team ASAP.

I'm not as depressed as some over this but must say I'm getting frustrated and bewildered why the form has crashed, Salford result really has messed with the minds

[Darlo_Pete]

Saturday's game is now massive. We have to stop the rot.

[D_F_C]

This is who we have left with their current positions

Darlington vs. Bamber Bridge 6th - just signed Jon Macken and have Paul Mckenna
Clitheroe vs. Darlington 13th
Darlington vs. Lancaster City 12th but we only took a point off last season
Darlington vs. Northwich Victoria 3rd - still fighting for title, Jim Gannon in charge
Darlington vs. Prescot Cables 20th should be 3 points, but only drew last year
New Mills vs. Darlington 21st should be 3 points
Warrington Town vs. Darlington 10th but hit good form recently
Northwich Victoria vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. Droylsden 7th, dropped off but still will give us a game
Scarborough Athletic vs. Darlington 4th - beaten them twice but they've improved
Darlington vs. Mossley AFC 11th, no pushovers
Lancaster City vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. New Mills as above

That's a frightening run in to be honest given the way we are playing, tell you what I would take a play off place now if it was offered, forget finishing top.

Have you seen Salford's run in, complete opposite to ours. They play about 2 of the top 9 and the rest in the bottom half

[theoriginalfatcat]

It's all well and good saying Whites a liability because of his indiscipline, however all the goals came before the sending off, and if we concede 3 then we deserve fuck all anyway

It's just that with 11 on the field we have a much higher chance of scoring.

Anyway with White's early retirement, ooops I mean impending ban, it will be easier for Gray to pick a defence that can defend.

There will be plenty more twists and turns before the end of the season.

I'm going to have to think on this ---- part of me wants to do it just to prove a point, part of me (big toe/left foot) doesn't.

[Darlogramps]

There will be plenty more twists and turns before the end of the season.

I'm going to have to think on this ---- part of me wants to do it just to prove a point, part of me (big toe/left foot) doesn't.

You've committed yourself to it now. No backing out.

[HarryCharltonsCat]

It's all well and good saying Whites a liability because of his indiscipline, however all the goals came before the sending off, and if we concede 3 then we deserve fuck all anyway

"It's just that with 11 on the field we have a much higher chance of scoring.

Anyway with White's early retirement, ooops I mean impending ban, it will be easier for Gray to pick a defence that can defend."

What are you talking about - the defence tonight was virtually our first choice one ever since Watson signed. Didn't hear much complaining from you prior to Saturday. Who would you put in, we're not swimming in replacements are we. Unfortunately, as last season, the better teams are finding us out. We've been lulled into a false sense of security by having had a long run of games against the lesser teams in the league, hence why our run in is as it is. Time for our management team to earn their corn, starting with another potential banana skin this weekend. It's an easy job as flat track bullies, let's see if they've learnt from last year. As for White, it's a pity our most experienced player can't control himself better at a time when he's needed the most.

[theoriginalfatcat]

What are you talking about - the defence tonight was virtually our first choice one ever since Watson signed. Didn't hear much complaining from you prior to Saturday.

I don't think I complained about Saturday but Re White I think I did express an opinion about his sending off at Salford - and now he's done it again. Personally I'd like White playing as he's been great this season - the trouble is, once he gets his marching orders, it makes it virtually impossible for us to get back in the game.

Unfortunately, as last season, the better teams are finding us out. We've been lulled into a false sense of security by having had a long run of games against the lesser teams in the league, hence why our run in is as it is. Time for our management team to earn their corn, starting with another potential banana skin this weekend. It's an easy job as flat track bullies, let's see if they've learnt from last year. As for White, it's a pity our most experienced player can't control himself better at a time when he's needed the most.

I agree.

[polarbear]

This is who we have left with their current positions

Darlington vs. Bamber Bridge 6th - just signed Jon Macken and have Paul Mckenna
Clitheroe vs. Darlington 13th
Darlington vs. Lancaster City 12th but we only took a point off last season
Darlington vs. Northwich Victoria 3rd - still fighting for title, Jim Gannon in charge
Darlington vs. Prescot Cables 20th should be 3 points, but only drew last year
New Mills vs. Darlington 21st should be 3 points
Warrington Town vs. Darlington 10th but hit good form recently
Northwich Victoria vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. Droylsden 7th, dropped off but still will give us a game
Scarborough Athletic vs. Darlington 4th - beaten them twice but they've improved
Darlington vs. Mossley AFC 11th, no pushovers
Lancaster City vs. Darlington as above
Darlington vs. New Mills as above

I have a feeling, whoever wins the game between Salford and Spennymoor will go on to win the league.

[divas]

Gray has to put another central midfielder in the team and sacrifice an attacking player to stop us leaking goals and also has to try and utilise Thommo better by playing him possibly as a striker or just behind the front 2.He is far too talented to be stuck out on the wing and should be more central as he can be a big threat for us. Out of interest how many goals has Dowson scored this season , 2 at best I would say, not good enough at this level.

He did that tonight in the first half, didn't work.

We played 4-3-3 with Mitchell in the centre and Thommo/Cartman wide forwards. Absolutely zero outlet every time we had the ball and it was constantly smashed forwards to Armstrong who had Farsley's 3 central defenders on him.

When Purewal is in the team you can get away with the long diagonals as you have both him and Armstrong to win the ball. Purewal is also excellent at holding the ball up and bringing others in. Trying the same plan with Thommo & Cartman wide didn't work for obvious reasons.

Start of the second half we went to 4-4-2 and looked better for it, getting back in the game before imploding again and resorting to lumping it to Armstrong before Gray's usual tactic when chasing a game of taking off a defender for Hatch alongside Armstrong for 5 mins before taking Armstrong off for Dowson and clobbering the ball long at every opportunity.

We played excellently against Ossett & Harrogate by using the full-backs to link with the wingers and play through Portas and now we've changed direction for some unknown reason.

Too many poor starts to games recently have cost us. Time to get back to basics and be solid for the first 45 minute and go from there.

[Darlogramps]

Out of interest how many goals has Dowson scored this season , 2 at best I would say, not good enough at this level.

So Dowson's the new scapegoat now. We don't hang around do we?

[aveda]

Gray has to put another central midfielder in the team and sacrifice an attacking player to stop us leaking goals and also has to try and utilise Thommo better by playing him possibly as a striker or just behind the front 2.He is far too talented to be stuck out on the wing and should be more central as he can be a big threat for us. Out of interest how many goals has Dowson scored this season , 2 at best I would say, not good enough at this level.

He did that tonight in the first half, didn't work.

We played 4-3-3 with Mitchell in the centre and Thommo/Cartman wide forwards. Absolutely zero outlet every time we had the ball and it was constantly smashed forwards to Armstrong who had Farsley's 3 central defenders on him.

When Purewal is in the team you can get away with the long diagonals as you have both him and Armstrong to win the ball. Purewal is also excellent at holding the ball up and bringing others in. Trying the same plan with Thommo & Cartman wide didn't work for obvious reasons.

Start of the second half we went to 4-4-2 and looked better for it, getting back in the game before imploding again and resorting to lumping it to Armstrong before Gray's usual tactic when chasing a game of taking off a defender for Hatch alongside Armstrong for 5 mins before taking Armstrong off for Dowson and clobbering the ball long at every opportunity.

We played excellently against Ossett & Harrogate by using the full-backs to link with the wingers and play through Portas and now we've changed direction for some unknown reason.

Too many poor starts to games recently have cost us. Time to get back to basics and be solid for the first 45 minute and go from there.

Completely agree. Also playing so narrow meant that the three in midfield got in each other's way much of the time and three usually very good players were ineffective. We need to keep it simple, players know their jobs in the usual formation. Much as he was a favourite in the past I'm not sure that this tactic of bringing Hatch on works, he spends all his time giving away needless free kicks and losing any momentum we have going forward.

[DarloOnTheUp]

I have a feeling, whoever wins the game between Salford and Spennymoor will go on to win the league.

Lol, I knew you'd turn up at some point after recent results.

[quaker4life]

I have to admit I was never confident going into this one and was even less so after that showing at Kendal.

At 2-2 I would have happily taken the draw. Although we were a tad fortunate to get back into it, Cartman's header struck the underside of the cross bar and bounced over the line and I will have to rewatch the penalty incident but from where I was I did question how much contact there actually was but there seemed to be little protest from the Farsley players.

Credit to Farsley though a lesser team would have folded and they were possibily a little hardly done by getting pegged back to 2-2. However we were much better in the second half and started to take the game to them. We then gave away a silly free kick in a dangerous area, as soon as their lad struck it you knew it was going in.

We all know about Whitey's disciplinary record however this time his sending off wasn't for persistently goading the referee, he made a silly challenge he didn't need to make when already on a booking.

Overall I have no complaints about the result, Farsley are a very good side at home but they gifted us a route back into the game and at 2-2 we really should have taken something from it but to be fair it was much a more open contest in the second and half and could probably have gone either way in the end. They showed great character and resilience and went on to win the game. Their No.5 was MOTM for me by far he was superb tonight and imo made the difference for them. Their No.3 and No.8 also stood out for me, both worked tremendously hard.

It is becoming a worrying trend that when we are faced with a team who are well organised and ready to come and get in our faces and attack us we seem to panic and resort to that predictable, monotonous hoof ball. Again it took us till the second half to find any sort of rythm and for a breif period we were on top, this trend needs to be rebuked quickly else we are going to find ourselves up against it yet again when we face another one of the better team's in the division in Bamber Bridge on Saturday. As Diva's rightly said above we need to go back to basics and get a solid first 45 in, if we defend like we did in the first 15 at Kendal and the first 30 tonight Brig will run riot much like they did at Spenny earlier in the season.

[lo36789]

At 2-2 I would have happily taken the draw. Although we were a tad fortunate to get back into it, Cartman's header struck the underside of the cross bar and bounced over the line and I will have to rewatch the penalty incident but from where I was I did question how much contact there actually was but there seemed to be little protest from the Farsley players.

It was a bad night and has been a bad couple of games all round, but you just come across as beyond negative when you start including anything good as being fortunate.

The reports suggest our switch to 4-4-2 changed it and that it was all Darlo after that until we levelled it and then we dropped off again.

The things you mention above are not 'somewhat fortunate' they are testiment to that pressure. Sounds like a good finish by Cartman as he got it in the furthest point away from the keeper but in, and if no players complain about a penalty well that really says it all! I might be misinterpreting your tone but you seem to describe the Cartman goal as if the way it went in was somewhat fortunate and not deserved.

We need to start stronger, if we are going to get the best out of Cartman we need to keep it on the ground. This is same old same old though and I guess I don't understand how between Gray, Gregan and Atkinson they can't seem to work it out. Incredibly frustrating but it's still not all doom and gloom. We still have the game in hand, we expect Salford will lose again.

[piggy]

This is who we have left with their current positions

Darlington vs. Bamber Bridge 6th - just signed Jon Macken and have Paul Mckenna

Didnt realise they had Macken on board (PNE connection Im guessing) thats quite a signing.

[poppyfield]

I was just behind the goal, it was an excellent header by Cartman, for me in the fist half (the same at Kendal) we are just defending to high up the pitch the ball gets hit over the top towards the Brown and White they are to slow off the mark and we are trouble, it happened time and time again in both matches.
Roll on Saturday I hope we can get back on track.

[MikeinBlack2]

At the moment, even if Salford/Northwich/Spenny drop points, we are almost certain to do so as well unless we can get our back 5 sorted. Back 5 includes Jameson who appears to be less confident of late. Maybe we should start Hatch in defence to replace White when his suspension kicks in, leaving us the option of going 3-4-3 without having to use a substitute? If Jameson is below par maybe we should consider playing Bell for a game or two? Something is going awry somewhere of late and needs addressing now or we may not even reach the play offs with our seemingly difficult run in. Knowing Gray's methods he'll probably bring in a 18 year old from Sunderland youth set up and wonder why he doesn't fit in straight away. I genuinely worry for us and hope that we aren't on the verge of imploding into a disastrous run of defeats.

[Bogratsteve]

At the moment, even if Salford/Northwich/Spenny drop points, we are almost certain to do so as well unless we can get our back 5 sorted. Back 5 includes Jameson who appears to be less confident of late. Maybe we should start Hatch in defence to replace White when his suspension kicks in, leaving us the option of going 3-4-3 without having to use a substitute? If Jameson is below par maybe we should consider playing Bell for a game or two? Something is going awry somewhere of late and needs addressing now or we may not even reach the play offs with our seemingly difficult run in. Knowing Gray's methods he'll probably bring in a 18 year old from Sunderland youth set up and wonder why he doesn't fit in straight away. I genuinely worry for us and hope that we aren't on the verge of imploding into a disastrous run of defeats.

You sound almost as worried as this pleb on FB last night who said "Game over.. Season over....no point.. Ffs what the feck is going on? Totally had enough of this now!"

I don't think for a second our chances of promotion are over, btw unless you missed it the SAFC loan player didn't play last night".........