Darlington 1 Barnet 2

Mar 21 2010 Sunday Sun

DARLINGTON slumped to their seventh defeat in eight games in front of their lowest-ever crowd for a league game at The Arena.

Just 1,463 fans turned up and what they saw was what they have witnessed many times before – missed chances and hesitant defending ruining good approach work.

Barnet strolled into a half-time lead without breaking sweat thanks to Darlington’s failings in both penalty areas.

Quakers played some reasonable passing football on a sticky surface, but in the area of the pitch where it mattered they were woefully lacking.

The home side missed three gilt-edged first-half chances, while Barnet were given time and space to score when their movement appeared to offer a threat.

Dave Livermore lashed home a corner on 23 minutes when Darlington failed to clear, then on 32 minutes Albert Adomah was given too much time and space to stroll to the edge of the penalty area and fire into the roof of the net.

But at 0-0, the recalled Darlington striker Noel Whelan – back after a long-term injury – blazed high over the bar from Tadhg Purcell’s astute pass.

Given his know-how, the veteran striker – starting just his second game this season – should really have done much better.

On 27 minutes,l Chris Moore – who was making his home debut – put over a pin-point cross but Purcell headed tamely over the bar.