Story by Kevin Luff - 17th September 2006

Hodgson left disappointed by 1-1 draw

David Hodgson was left highly disappointed by his team's performance during the 1-1 draw with Bristol Rovers on Saturday. Quakers had little spark about them for much of the game and looked well off the pace. After the game Hodgson question the fitness levels of a few of his players and what they were doing away from the stadium.

Darlington went 1-0 down in the second half before Martin Smith equalised with virtually the last kick of the game in injury time. Hodgson said his team never got going during the game and looked reluctant to get on the ball which caused real problems in developing any rhythm.

"We came in from the warm up and Maddo (Neil Maddison) said they looked extremely lively. It just never went into the game. We just never got started, we were all disjointed. I think two or three players were lacking fitness and because of that they were reluctant to get on the ball," said Hodgson. "We need all players available for the ball because that is the way we play. Because certain players were reluctant to get on the ball we looked all at sea in the first half."

Darlington showed a bit more during the second period but it was the introduction of Neil Wainwright after with around fifteen minutes left that helped Quakers restore parity. Whilst it was far from a sublime introduction from the winger his simple never say die attitude and constant running was ultimately what got Quakers back on level terms.

"I thought that there was a bit more about us in the second half but there had to be. It couldn't be a carbon copy of the first half. I thought we had enough chances in the second half to maybe even go on and win the game before they scored but once they scored I thought where do we get a goal from," asked Hodgson. "We just didn't look like we had any life. Wainy fortunately is like Forest Gump - he doesn't know the meaning of the word tired and with that you always have a chance because he'll keep going and going. That gave us a bit of spark."

Also notable was Darlington's poor communication at the back. Patrick Collins went off injured in the first half and the old problems at the back became an issue again. Communication issues appeared to have improved in recent games but they struck again here much to the annoyance of the manager.

"It costs nothing to talk," declared Hodgy. "It is a very easy task to speak. There was a lack of communication in the back line, Joey (Hutchinson) went for a ball instead of Brian (Close), the ball dropped in the six yard box and Sam (Russell) doesn't take it. Stupid things like that really annoyed me."

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