Darlington were unlucky to be beaten 2-0 by Rochdale at home. The visitors scored two second half goals to secure all three points and extend Darlington's winless run. Craig Liddle and Neil Maddison were unable to grab a first league win of the season but Darlington did turn in a good performance and have something to build upon ahead of the weekend's match with Macclesfield.

The first of Rochdale's goals was a fortunate shot at the far post which somehow found the tightest of angles to beat Russell Hoult. An Ian Miller header on just after the break was headed off the line before Dale's opener and had that gone in the result could have been very different.

Liddle turned to his youth team bringing Curtis Main, who scored in the 1-1 draw at Grimsby Town at the weekend, and Danny Groves into the starting line-up. However it was the experienced Kevin Gall who had Darlington's best chances in the first half. Early on he was set up by the hard working Jamie Devitt but his low shot was saved.

Gall had another two chances inside the opening twenty-minutes to put Darlington ahead. He saw a shot go just wide before a Kenny Arthur save denied the former Carlisle United man as the ball went behind for a corner kick. Dale responded well but through Simon Whaley but on twenty-six minutes Devitt saw a shot parried as Quakers pushed for a opener.

Rochdale were always a danger though and twice in the space of five minutes Chris Dagnall had chances for the visitors as former Darlington player Scott Wiseman crossed from the right. The first on thirty-minutes wasn't capitalised by Dagnall but the second one saw his shot take a deflection for a corner kick. Quakers though posed a few questions themselves and at the break an open game finished goalless.

That changed in the second half. The final scoreline could have been very different. A few minutes after the restart live-wire Devitt twisted and turned to create himself a shooting chance. Arthur though was equal to the shot from outside the box and the young winger was denied what would have been a good goal. From the resulting corner Miller's header was nodded off the line by Whalley. Main's follow up effort was blocked.

It proved the turning point for a spirited and determined Darlington side. Quakers appeared to be closing in on a goal but instead it was Rochdale who took the lead as the game cruelly swung in the other direction.

On the hour mark substitute William Buckley fired into the net after a corner was not cleared. With twenty minutes left Darlington tried to get back into the game by replacing a tired Devitt with Mark Convery. However it wasn't meant to be as with nine minutes left Whaley's cross was turned home by Chris O'Grady to seal the visitor's win.