Darlington’s season has been a shambles, none more so than off of the field where they find themselves plunging towards administration thanks to the egotistic actions of their former chairman George Reynolds. Reynolds resigned from his position at the club midway through the campaign, citing the trouble that he has had financing the Reynolds Arena as a major reason.
Since then, the creditors have been sent for, and in a desperate measure a return to the club’s former home at Feethams was mooted. Should the Quakers find themselves playing in the Nationwide Conference next season, that could well be where they entertain the likes of Leigh RMI and Dagenham & Redbridge. Such is Reynolds’ pride that he has not allow rescue packages to take place, whilst Darlo find themselves ever-closer to the foot of the table.
Of late, though, the club have managed to turn their on-field fortunes around, picking up vital wins against Bristol Rovers, Cheltenham Town and Macclesfield Town in a run that has seen 24 points picked up from a possible 39. At the start of that period, heralded by a 1-0 win over fellow strugglers Rochdale, the Quakers had just 22 points from 28 games, and with Southend United, seemed most likely to be joining Carlisle United in the Conference next year.
However, now with the Cumbrians on 40 points, the Shrimpers in 14th on 48 and even Boston United in 11th with 52 not clear of trouble yet, Darlington have 46 precious points to their name in 20th place, four clear of free-falling York City, who they have taken four vital points from this season. And a 1-0 win over Mansfield Town on Saturday means that they arrive at Roots Hall confident of picking up their fourth away win of the season.
Nationwide League Division Three |
09/08/03: Hull City (a) L1-4 (Conlon) 16/08/03: Kidderminster Harriers (h) L0-2 22/08/03: Northampton Town (a) L0-1 25/08/03: Leyton Orient (h) W2-1 (Clarke, Hughes) 30/08/03: Rochdale (a) L2-4 (McGurk, Pearson) 06/09/03: Carlisle United (h) W2-0 (Conlon 2) 13/09/03: Doncaster Rovers (h) W2-1 (Wainwright 2) 16/09/03: York City (a) D1-1 (Conlon) 20/09/03: Torquay United (a) D2-2 (Liddle, Clark) 27/09/03: Boston United (h) W3-0 (Liddle, Clarke, Clark) 30/09/03: Southend United (h) D0-0 04/10/03: Mansfield Town (a) L1-3 (Clark) 11/10/03: Bristol Rovers (h) L0-4 18/10/03: Yeovil Town (a) L0-1 21/10/03: Cheltenham Town (a) L1-2 (Morgan) 25/10/03: Bury (h) L1-3 (Liddle) 01/11/03: Oxford United (a) L1-3 (McGurk) 15/11/03: Lincoln City (h) D0-0 22/11/03: Swansea City (a) L0-1 29/11/03: Scunthorpe United (h) D2-2 (Conlon, Wainwright) 06/12/03: York City (h) W3-0 (Conlon, Wainwright, James) 13/12/03: Cambridge United (a) L0-1 20/12/03: Macclesfield Town (h) L0-1 26/12/03: Huddersfield Town (h) L0-1 28/12/03: Carlisle United (a) D1-1 (Matthews) 03/01/04: Leyton Orient (a) L0-1 10/01/04: Hull City (h) L0-1 17/01/04: Kidderminster Harriers (a) D1-1 (McGurk) 31/01/04: Rochdale (h) W1-0 (Hughes) 07/02/04: Huddersfield Town (a) W2-0 (Clark [p], Maddison) 14/02/04: Bristol Rovers (a) W3-0 (Liddle, Conlon 2) 17/02/04: Northampton Town (h) L1-2 (Wilmott [o.g.]) 21/02/04: Yeovil Town (h) W3-2 (Conlon, Wainwright 2) 28/02/04: Bury (a) D1-1 (Conlon) 06/03/04: Macclesfield Town (a) W1-0 (Russell) 09/03/04: Cheltenham Town (H) W2-1 (McGurk, Conlon) 13/03/04: Cambridge United (h) L3-4 (Convery, Clarke, Keltie) 20/03/04: Doncaster Rovers (a) D1-1 (Convery) 27/03/04: Torquay United (h) D1-1 (Conlon) 03/04/04: Boston United (a) L0-1 10/04/04: Mansfield Town (h) W1-0 (Clarke)
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F.A. Cup |
09/11/04: R1 – Hornchurch (a) L0-2
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Carling Cup |
12/08/03: R1 – Bradford (a) D0-0 [W5-3 on penalties] 23/09/03: R2 – Wolverhampton Wanderers (a) L0-2
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LDV Vans Trophy |
14/10/03: R1 – Hull City (h) L1-3 (Sheeran)
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2003/4 Records |
Matches Played: 45 (22 home, 23 away) Matches Won: 12 (9 home, 3 away) Matches Drawn: 11 (4 home, 7 away) Matches Lost: 22 (9 home, 13 away) Goals Scored: 47 (28 home, 19 away) Goals Conceded: 62 (29 home, 33 away)
Craig Liddle 43 Matt Clarke 38+1 Jonathan Hutchinson 36+2 Ryan Valentine 31+7 Barry Conlon 37
Barry Conlon 12 Neil Wainwright 6 Ian Clark, Matt Clarke, Craig Liddle, David McGurk 4 |
Robert Craven
www.thelittlegazette.com