After a steady start to the season Darlington premiered their catalogue of frailties, succumbing to a disappointing home defeat to a poor Oxford side. Words by Garry Mann. Pictures by Les Hodge.
Not only did they lack creativity going forward, failing to penetrate a very ordinary Oxford outfit for the majority of the contest, but they defended shamefully in spells - spells which proved to be a poisoned chalice as Oxford penalised two second half Matt Clarke errors to take the spoils. After so much promise in pre season it seemed the sky was the limit for David Hodgson's men but after two back to back atrocities at Mansfield and again today, 4,000 Darlington fans left at 5 o'clock wondering what this season promises to deliver.
Neither side managed to seize the early initiative with plenty of neat possessional play in the first two thirds failing to bear fruit with very few glimpses of goal in the early exchanges. However, with two teams, if you scanned the team sheet, oozing with experience and quality, well at least for League Two, it was simply a matter of time before the match gathered some momentum. Or at least you would have thought! With an Oxford attack staring the pacy Frenchman Eric Sabin, former Portsmouth, Palace and Man City Lee Bradbury and local lad Andy Campbell - a man who failed to live up to his promise at Middlesbrough before moving to Cardiff, where he is on loan to The U's from, you'd expect a tough time for the unchanged Darlington rearguard of Valentine, Clarke, Hutchinson and right back Martis.
It took half an hour before a shot in the same longitude as the goal was registered; Marseille target Chris Hackett firing comfortably wide of Sam Russell's, returning after five games on the treatment table, post. No sooner had Oxford moved from first gear to second had Darlington decided to join in the fun. Akpo Sodje's right footed drive narrowly missing the target after good work by the tireless Anthony Peacock to win the ball back and put the Quakers' top scorer through. But to be fair Darlington's attacking play did look the more likely to threaten Billy Turley in a terribly drab first half at Neasham Road.
Apart from a free kick drilled into the wall on ten minutes by Matt Robinson Oxford failed to put together a meaningful forward move, let alone an effort on goal. David Hodgson's men looked slightly more promising, although without really threatening. On thirteen minutes a mazy run by Carlos Logan resulted in him being brought down by Chris Wilmott in the penalty area. However, referee Phil Joslin deemed the centre half's challenge to be clean and waved play on. Five minutes later saw the best move of the match so far come together. Some very pretty one touch football down the left by Valentine and Logan released Anthony Peacock down the centre but the midfielder's shot was charged down by Leo Roget. Wainwright hammered the loose ball into Wilmott before dinking the blocked shot to Sodje at the far post where he a won a corner off Quinn's head.
Just before half time the sprightly Logan was at the centre of, once again, Darlington's next threat on goal. After a workmanlike tussle on the left flank, he eventually shrugged off Mansell battling his way to the by line and winning a deserved corner. However, once again the delivery on the set piece was nothing short of abysmal. With both sides far from excelling in the opening period, there was plenty of work to do at half time for both managers, each deciding to ring the changes with Adrian Webster replacing Peacock and Craig Davies coming on for Brian Talbot's side. The half time shake up's clearly had some effect, both teams coming out for the second half with more fire in their bellies and playing with a lot more vigour. However the same problems were apparent as whilst the build up play was very pleasing to the eye there was still a distinct lack of opportunities being created.
Three minutes before the hour mark Akpo Sodje's continued the trend blasting a wild thirty yard volley well over the crossbar, no doubt showing his frustration at the lack of ball he was receiving all afternoon. Supporters kept themselves warm with the occasional cry of 'oo.' These were more out of hope than anything after long range efforts from Logan and Wainwright, and Robinson for Oxford sailing clear of the target. Ndumbu-Nsungu's appearance on the hour offered some hope. The super sub's optimistic 25 yarder gave Turley something to think about before he controlled and turned an Appleby through pass majestically, unluckily skimming the outside of the post with the shot.
However, Darlington are in league Two for a very good reason. More often than not they cannot turn good spells of possession into goals and their defence had a tenancy to, well, self destruct. And this self destruction single handedly turned the game in the favour of their opponents thanks to some hapless defensive play, namely courtesy of Matt Clarke. After two solid years at the heart of the Quakers defence it appeared that the giant former Halifax man had shrugged off the demon's that plagued his first year at the club. But they were back to haunt him in a nightmare ten minute spell. On sixty six minutes sub Davies found some space down the right, before skinning Clarke with far too much ease, laying a deep cross on a plate for Sabin to open the scoring from five yards out.
The nervousness of Darlington's defence was clear for all to see and ten minutes later the visitors doubled the deficit. Davies was again key to the move with his aggressive run putting pressure on Martis and Russell after Clarke's slack back pass, with both keeper and defender failing to deal with the ball allowing Davies to nip in between the two and tap into an open goal. Nonetheless one thing this young squad of Darlington's players have his a never say die attitude, although some may argue they were already dead at kick off, and two minute after going another goal behind they pulled one back. Adrian Webster latching onto the end of Joey Hutchinson's ball over the top to stab into the roof of the net. With ten minutes to go a comeback was on the cards with Valentine, deputising on the left wing after Wijnhard replaced Logan, dashing down the wing in between some lovely touches from Ndumbu-Nsunu and Johnson to release him but his cross was too deep. Martis, who showed his set piece pedigree at Mansfield with a decent speculative effort, again testing from a free kick and with a vicious thirty yard blunder buster which only just evaded Turley's goal.
Darlington: Russell, Martis, Clarke, Hutchinson, Valentine, Wainwright, Appleby, Peacock (Webster 45), Logan (Wijnhard 75), Johnson, Sodje (Ndumbu-Nsungu 61). Subs: Bossu, Duke, Wijnhard, Webster, Ndumbu-Nsungu.
Oxford Utd: Turley, Willmott, Ashton, Roget, Hackett, Bradbury, Quinn, Robinson, Mansell, Campbell (Davies 45), Sabin. Subs: Tardiff, Basham, Stirling, Hughes, Davies.
Darlington bookings: Appleby.
Oxford bookings: Bradbury, Sabin.
Goals: Sabin 67th min (0-1), Davies 76th min (0-2), Webster 79th min (1-2).
