Hereford United 2 Darlington 1
A spirited fight back in the last twenty minutes wasn't enough to give Quakers a much needed point at Edgar Street.
Quakers gave themselves too much to do after conceding two soft goals, and the task of avoiding relegation to the Conference has become a little more difficult.
But at least Quakers created some good chances, and if one of them had been taken in the first half, then the outcome may well have been different.
The first came after nine minutes when Jeff Smith made a diagonal run into the Hereford box and chipped the ball to the far post where Simon Thomas, with his back to goal, hooked the ball over the bar from just a few yards.
And a minute later, a deep cross by Moses Barnett, who had a good game at left back, was chested down by James Collins on the edge of the Hereford area, and he forced Hereford keeper Adam Bartlett into a good save at the foot of his post.
But Hereford also caused problems at the other end. Craig King ran through the middle and pulled a chance wide, and Barnett had to go full stretch to block Mark Marshall's shot from ten yards after Matthieu Manset had opened the Quakers defence down the left.
Just when it seemed as if Quakers would get to half time without conceding, they let Hereford take the lead. The defence didn't deal with a high cross from the left, and Hereford's Marc Pugh was able to gain control and set up Keith Lowe, who fired into the roof of the net from ten yards even though there were several defenders near him.
Darlo manager Steve Staunton decided to make a change at half time, replacing Paul Arnison with teenager Corey Barnes, but no sooner had the second half started, then Quakers went 2-0 down. Former Darlo left back Ryan Valentine floated a routine free kick into the middle for the unmarked Manset to help on for Darren Jones to bundle in from six yards out.
Valentine nearly set up another one with a good run and cross that Marshall should have done better with instead of heading well wide of the target from six yards.
There were signs of a revival when Barnes pushed forward and set up Collins, whose right foot shot was beaten away by Bartlett, and on 57 minutes the manager decided to use his last two subs, taking off Thomas and Mark Convery, and replacing them with Nathan Mulligan, signed last week from Norton and Mor Diop.
But it was nearly 3-0 when Manset raced away on the end of a long clearance, and with just Nick Liversedge to beat, blazed over the top.
The complexion of the game and the hopes of the 98 Darlington fans were raised on 71 minutes when Jeff Smith found Barnett with a good ball into the box, and the full back neatly laid the ball off for Collins to angle a shot into the bottom left hand corner.
There was nearly an equaliser two minutes later when Smith curled a corner in from the right and Matty Plummer seemed a certain scorer with a powerful point blank header that Bartlett somehow managed to push over the bar.
Diop showed some good touches, and he nearly levelled on 85 minutes when his low shot took a deflection and seemed as if it was going to creep in, but Bartlett pushed the ball around his left hand post.
But there was always a risk of Quakers conceding a third as they pushed forward, and they nearly did when Marc Pugh had just Liversedge to beat but the keeper pushed the ball around the post, and Marshall was just about to score ten yards out until Barnes won the ball with a great tackle.
It's a return to Barnet in the FA Cup next - and manager Steve Staunton will be looking for a morale boosting win.