Poor is being VERY generous to certain parts of tonights "performance" Nick... The defence played fine (one aberration apart) and the forwards huffed and puffed but got very little change out of a well organised back-line (or the ref.for that matter) but the midfield was a shambles. We miss Soley so bad its not true; no-one was picking up or even competing for the second-phase ball at all. Summerbell was fine first half but tired and McDonagh was at the hub of all of Darlo's best moves (not a typo, he was beyond bad today). McGill is no longer a secret weapon and played ok despite being marked by two people and the linesman but we are woefully shot-shy and the final balls are non-existent. And am I the only one thoroughly pissed off with this short corner crap; at least Galloway coming on helped that. To sum up, we wouldn't have scored if we we were still playing now and our need for a midfield is paramount or we'll be challenging for relegation rather than promotion...
Simon Ash
It's always horrible losing to Darlo ( who despite what some members of the crowd were saying are far from a crap side this term) but come on, lets not get on our teams backs yet, this list sounds like a load of moaning Man Utd fans! We were guilty of not doing the simple thing, often tonight, individually there were some very good performances. Foran worked himself to a standstill, with 3 headed clearances off the line. Whitehead took Conlan out of the match. I wouldn't have brought andrws off but there may be any number of reasons why he did. Kelly did ok, not world beating stuff but considering it was his first game and coming on at half time in a difficult match, I certainly wouldn't start slagging him off yet! Personally I wouldn't slag any of the players off, we lost one young player in recent times who was so distraught by the treatment he was getting from the home fans he gave up on us, if a player doesn't try fair enough but tonight there wasn't a player out there not giving his all for the cause. I'm convinced it will come right given time, lets do what we do best and get behind the team, we won't be the last to be beaten by Darlo but the time to worry will be if they are still capable of beating us in the return fixture.
Bumble
roddy got JC to buy the club. i'll always be grateful for that. it doesn't mean that he doesnt make mistakes was andrews injured? if not then RC is off his head to change the centre half partnership that has kept clean sheets for 3 and a half games and we got what we deserved mcdonagh may well have some potential. he's scored one of our two goals in open play this season but he was having a nightmare tonight and RC left him on all game, taking off Summerbell (needs a haircut) and Burns from his midfield funniest moment was in the first half when Birch wiped out their forward in the box and the ref booked the darlo player for diving! Is birch carrying an injury he looked very slow at times tonight
Chris Kearton
Woeful. We've got some serious problems and Collins needs to get them sorted. Molloy and Foran, good individuals, as a partnership it leaves a lot to be desired. Neither of them are keen penalty box players. Last season our upturn in form was, IMO, based around Stevens coming back into the side. Foran isn't a target man, neither is Molloy. If we're going to do anything, we need that sorted out. If Asprilla comes in, bloke I was chatting to today reckons that Conlon will be sent packing. I'd not mind Conlon up front with Foran. The midfield was poor, Burns kept coming into the middle so that when the ball broke, Birch was left awfully exposed. Summerbell was passable; McDonagh, a woeful pass which lead to their winner. He tried to play a ball into Birch who was flighting into their half, it was cut out, Kelly had to come and close the ball down, Conlon played it across for a tap in. First half, we looked solid at the back. Penalty was unfortunate, as his arm was by his side when it hit him, but we can't complain as he chopped their winger down who got booked for diving. Arf. Btw, Birch isn't a patch on Shelley. I hope the substitution was down to an injury on the part of Lee Andrews (I mean it differently to how it comes out). Kelly will need time to adapt, and giving him a run out in the second half tonight wasn't the time or the place to blood him. McDonagh. Really, I mean, I cannot find words which accurately sum up how bad he was tonight. Collins must have some misguided loyalty towards him. In the second half, Darlo went to 4-3-3 and we were completely over run in midfield. Whitehead was caught out for the first goal, he watched the ball and not the man, by the time he'd reacted he was a yard down on him. Difficult to see whether Keen could have done more to stop it. The players just didn't fancy it tonight, really, really bad performance. Roll on Saturday.
Ian Bruntonpark
Darlington moved up to fifth spot in the Third Division with a comfortable win against and toothless Carlisle who had the backing of a vociferous 1500 travelling army. For all the Cumbrians neat approach play they never found a cutting edge to really threaten the Darlington goal while the Quakers always looked the more menacing going forward and found a match winner in Glenn Naylor. Naylor, a long term injury victim, seized his chance after coming on for a sickness hit Neil Maddison at half time, linking up well up front with Barry Conlon to break Cumbrian hearts with two well taken goals. Such is the tightness of the Division that a point would have put Carlisle fifth but following the defeat they now languish in fifteenth place. A disappointed Roddy Collins said after the game: "I thought Conlan was the difference between the two teams. When the ball got up to him it stuck and he supported the play. Any danger came from Conlon and that's where the goals came from. "I thought we had a lot of good possession but we rushed things too many times and when we broke and got in the last third we didn't have the patience we should have to work an opening and that was disappointing. "The work rate of the lads you're never going to complain about. The shape went all over the place particularly when they got the second goal. I thought at one-nil that we were still in the game. We had a good , sustained period of pressure and if we had nicked something then, we would have finished the stronger. But one bad pass from Will McDonagh, who otherwise had a great game, was intercepted and that was it. It was disappointing but we will learn from that." Darlington gave early notice of their intentions when a 2nd minute free kick from Maddison was headed over by Conlon. Three minutes later former Carlisle loan player Phil Hadland shot narrowly over the bar after good work from Ian Clark had created an opening. Carlise's first chance came on 11 minutes when John Burns picked up a ball in mifdfield and as the Quakers defence backed off he hit his shot over the bar from the edge of the box. On 21 minutes Carlisle were lucky to survive a penalty appeal when Whitehead brought down Conlon from behind only for referee Howard Webb to wave play on. Four minutes later Ian Clark again became provider laying a ball into Mark Ford's path, but the midfielder's resulting shot flew narrowly over the bar. Trevor Molloy then found himself with space, after an intelligent dummy by Richie Foran, only to shoot narrowly wide of Andy Collett's left hand post. Conlon went close for the Quakers with 31 minutes gone, turning well on the edge of the box before firing straight at Peter Keen. Brendan McGill then worked a good opening for himself only to shoot weakly at Collett as the Darlington defence opened up for him. Carlisle then survived another penalty scare after 35 minutes when Mark Birch brought down Hadland from behind only for referee Webb to bizarrely book the Darlington man for diving. Four minutes later, at the third time of asking Darlington finally got a penalty from the least likely of the three incidents. A Conlon header flew straight at Birch, hitting him on the arm and the referee immediately pointed to the spot. But Keen rose to the occasion, spectacularly diving low to his left to turn away a well struck penalty from Ian Clark A minute later Matthew Clarke's effort from outside the box had Keen again diving full length to turn away his shot. A rare opening came Carlisle's way with three minutes of the half remaining when a spectacular McDonagh overhead kick was palmed away by Collett, with Simon Betts clearing the danger for a corner. But Darlington came straight back with a Ford pile-driver skimming the bar. After the break good work down the left from Murphy presented Foran with a chance but a mistimed header typified the lack of touch the out of sorts striker is suffering. Darlington took the lead on 56 minutes when Ashley Nicholls played in Naylor who managed to hold off Whitehead to turn and crack a low shot into the bottom corner. Keen then had to palm away a dangerous cross from Nichols before a Molloy made space for himself at the other end before shooting over. On 75 minutes Molloy headed over from a Mick Galloway corner but the game went out reach on 81 minutes when Darlington got their second goal. McDonagh's ambitious cross-field pass was cut out by Conlon and he released Valentine down the left. With the Carlisle defence stretched Valentine found Naylor unmarked in the box and the substitute had the easy task of side footing home passed a helpless Keen. With four minutes remaining Naylor squandered a great chance for his hat-trick when shooting over the bar after a neat lay-off from Conlon. Keen then save at full stretch from Valentine's thirty yard pile-driver as Darlington continued in the ascendancy.
Mike Corry
I think the Darlington game gave everyone a reality check. In many minds, there seemed to be the belief thst now Knighton has gone, we would never lose another football match. I think that, so far, we have beaten two moderate sides who may well finish in the bottom six. We've lost to one good side and one above-average and we've drawn with one reasonable team. That's not a bad start and hopefully the faults will be as clear to Roddy Collins as they are to us. To my eyes, there is no link in the team between midfield and attack. Summerbell is very defensive and I suspect is the thinking man's Richard Prokas. Burns was anonymous on Saturday but better last night but then substituted fairly early. The substitution policy does need scrutiny. Was Andrews injured last night or was it tactical? If it was tactical, it was a gamble which failed. Another quirk about Roddy Collins is his persistence in playing centre-halfs in midfield. McDonagh is the latest incumbent- following Morley & Whitehead. It just gives McDonagh a hard time from the crowd and cannot do much for his confidence. I wonder if he had ever played midfield before coming here. McGill is also stuggling to make an impact- but it is early days. The worrying part with him though is the number of times he has been outpaced already- we did not see that very often last season. Even the linesman kept pace with him last night before he got shoved over. There seems to be great debate about the short corners. We are a very small team so it would seem pointless to just lump every corner into the box. But a bit of variety would surely be advisable and would keep the opposition on their guard. It's brilliant to be having these types of discussions- it seems a long time since we did!
Brian Hall
Foran actually played quite well against Darlington - just the final product was never coming. He was having to do far too much work in midfield when he should have been upfront waiting for the final ball. Once he gets that elusive goal for this season, watch him start to perform. As for McDonagh - well maybe I'm the only one here, but I thought he had an alright first-half against Darlington, was doing what he was put in there to do - win the ball and break down Darlington's attacks. Second-half he went to pieces as in my view he was doing the job of two men - Mark Summerbell was incredibly anonymous in the second-half (understandably as he had played two games in four days after playing none in a year) and thus McDonagh's work rate (which can't be criticised) was upped even further. He mad a simply error of playing a difficult ball when a simple one was all that was needed. He'll get over it and I'm convinced will one day be one hell of an assett to us. At the moment though, I would rather that Roddy was playing Mick Galloway or even Michael Jack! McDonagh still strikes me as a defender trying to play in midfield (see Dave Morley or Stuart Whitehead for evidence that it doesn't work!) Read the Official Website preview for today's game. It was a forced change. Andrews picked up an ankle injury in the first-half and was taken off as a precaution. As a result, he will play in today's game now which I believe is a better opportunity for a win than Darlington was. Yes, we will be playing uproven strikers but considering our lack of good "fortune" infront of goal this season, maybe this is the opportunity we've been waiting for? Apparently although Exeter have brought in some big earners as forwards and midfielders, they haven't invested a lot in their defence which is apparently poor. Nixon I understand is quite a pacey player so could be interesting to see what he does. The OWS seems convinced that if Wake isn't fit, Slaven will start. I really can't see this being the case as it could ruin the poor lad's confidence if he was to have a mare. Maybe another player should be played out of position upfront with Nixon. Any suggestions anyone? Sounds daft, but I'd go for McDonagh. Hasn't been a huge success yet in midfield, but is a very big lad who wins a lot in the air. Nearly scored a cracking over-head kick against Darlo. It'll only be for a game or so and I'd rather he played there than Slaven from the start. If not - I wouldn'tbe surprise if it was Kelly or possibly McGill.
Lee Rooney
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