Darlington's hopes of advancing in the FA Cup were well and truly dashed in a 3-1 defeat at Barnet.

Comparisons will be made between this defeat and the league defeat a fortnight previous at Underhill, but the message will remain the same - that Quakers need to improve defensively, and fast.

There were some good individual performances, from Mor Diop, Corey Barnes, James Collins and Gary Smith, but it's clear that manager Steve Staunton will have to bring in more new players to lift Quakers out of their plight at the bottom of League Two.

Staunton decided to put teenager Corey Barnes at full back and Mark Convery on the left in a free role in an attempt to find an early goal, and Quakers went close first, with a header by Matt Plummer from a Jeff Smith corner which went just over the top.

But Barnet took the lead with their first attack of the game on 18 minutes. The defence didn't get the ball away, and John O'Flynn played a one-two with Paul Furlong, and beat Nick Liversedge with a left foot shot into the bottom corner.

For the second week running, the management team must have been tearing their hair out after seeing their half time talk wasted, because Quakers conceded a second goal on 47 minutes.

Albert Adomah crossed from the right for the unmarked Furlong to nod down for Micah Hyde to tap past Liversedge.

It was nearly three when Yannick Bolasie was inches wide with a glancing header, while at the other end Mark Convery got round the back of the defence and set up James Collins on the edge of the area, but the youngster was narrowly off target.

Staunton made a couple of substitutions on 53 minutes, sending on Mor Diop for Jeff Smith, and John Gray for Mark Convery, and within a few minutes Gray put a good ball into the box for Collins to turn quickly and fire towards goal, but Barnet keeper Jake Cole managed to push the ball away.

And on the hour Simon Thomas was denied when he latched on to a through ball by Moses Barnett, but Cole somehow managed to with his legs.

Barnet's third goal finished Quakers off on 65 minutes. Again, there was space on the Barnet right for Ahmed Deen to cross into the middle, and striker O'Flynn headed across Liversedge into the net.

Quakers rallied for the last twenty minutes. Thomas' powerful shot was pushed into the air by the keeper, Collins headed the ball towards goal, but Deen cleared the ball off the line.

And there was some consolation on 72 minutes when Gray found Collins just outside the box, and the youngster played a lovely reverse pass into the path of Diop, who took a touch and sidefooted the ball into the bottom corner.

The goal lifted Quakers, and for a spell Barnet panicked. Collins had a shot charged down on the six yard line, and Diop fired across the face of goal in the last ten minutes.

So Quakers went out of the FA Cup in the first round for the third successive season, and to use that well-worn cliché, they can concentrate on the league now.