Barwell 2 Darlington 1

DARLINGTON suffered a disappointing defeat at mid-table Barwell, losing 2-1 to a team 16th in the table before today.

With other teams towards the top of the table also dropping points, the damage inflicted was minimised, but Quakers, who stay fourth, can ill afford too many more results such as these.

The Leicestershire side enjoyed a surprise win that came against the odds, with Barwell suffering from injuries and struggling to name five players on the bench, yet goals either side of half-time gave them victory.

Darlington brushed aside Barwell 3-1 at Heritage Park back in August, but today, when it was wet, windy and cold, conditions were awful to both watch and play in.

Neither side were on top during a first half in which chances were few.

As in the defeat at Sutton Coldfield Town last time out, Darlington started in a 4-3-3 formation with Wilson Kneeshaw again preferred to Stephen Thompson, while Gary Brown was unavailable due to personal reasons, Lewis Gibbons recalled at right-back.

Kevin Burgess, also recalled, was close to scoring when meeting an Adam Mitchell corner, while at the other end impressive left-back Alex Tomkinson struck the outside of the post with a free-kick.

With the game heading for half-time goalless, the hosts took the lead in injury time.

A 20-yard shot by impressive left-back Alex Tomkinson went past Peter Jameson with the aid of a deflection, and soon after the restart it was 2-0.

From a Barwell corner, striker Jamie Towers turned home at the near post, taking advantage of slack defending.

Darlington soon made changes, altering personnel and formation.

Thompson and Lee Gaskell entered the fray, and the team switched to 4-4-2 from 4-3-3 and soon looked more dangerous, pulling a goal back through Tom Portas.

He drove home from the edge of the penalty area after a Gaskell pass and a Graeme Armstrong flick-on.

With 25 minutes to play, there was plenty of time for an equaliser, and while Quakers saw much more of the ball and late on pushed four players up front, they were unable to unduly trouble keeper Liam Castle, while Barwell had a third goal ruled out for offside.

“It was one of them games today when no matter what we tried nothing seemed to drop for us,” reflected Darlington manager Martin Gray.

“They didn’t test our keeper in the first half apart from a deflected goal, and that happens sometimes in games at every level.

“Having said that, we defended a set-piece poorly at the start of the second half. It was a basic mistake, their lad got across us and it wasn’t a header, so the cross wasn’t a good height, he got a foot on it.

“So we had a bad end to the first half, a bad start to the second half and gave them a 2-0 lead.”

Triumphant Barwell manager Jimmy Ginnelly hailed his team of underdogs claiming that his side had beaten the title favourites.

“After the game at Darlington I said that we had probably seen the title favourites, and I feel the same today,” said Barwell’s boss.

“They were big and strong, they look like they’re set up for the title and I expected them to come here and win, especially with the numbers that we’ve got.

“We’re a small club with a small squad. We didn’t have many players, so we had the assistant manager and a coach on the bench, and we’ve produced a result like that from the XI that we’ve got left.

“Their two wingers are good so we tried to stop them playing, and we moved our captain back from the middle of midfield to mark Graeme Armstrong. He did that fantastically well. You do that, and keep the wingers quiet, you limit Darlington’s chances.

“I was expecting an absolute onslaught in the second half, but it didn’t really materialise. Our back four were really strong, the midfield worked their socks off and the two lads up front defended from the front and we limited them their chances.

“It was a hardworking performance by us.”

Barwell (4-4-2): Castle; Lower, Kay, Lavery, Tomkinson, Carney, Julien, Woodward, Hickey, J Towers, Story. Subs not used: Gaunt, Punter, Nisevic, Hadland, Ginnelly

Darlington (4-3-3): Jameson, Gibbons (Nowakowski 84), Galbraith, Portas, Burgess, Hunter, Mitchell, Scott, Armstrong, Cartman (Gaskell 57), Kneeshaw (Thompson 55). Subs not used: Provert, Dowson