DARLINGTON could have few complaints after suffering their first defeat in four games at Adams Park. Quakers are now looking nervously over their shoulders at fourth-placed Hereford, who won at Accrington Stanley, and are now just a point behind them. Quakers were nothing like their usual effective selves in the first half, as the home side forced the pace. Darlington keeper David Stockdale, who had a pre-match scare when he suffered a back injury in the warm-up, blocked a low shot by Matt Bloomfield. But he had no chance on 24 minutes when Ian Miller’s mis-timed header went across the Darlington penalty area and Leon Knight executed a delightful over-head kick to put the ball into the bottom corner. Stockdale denied Bloomfield twice more as Quakers struggled to make an impression on the game, and the keeper also stopped efforts from Scott McGleish and David McCracken. Darlington manager Dave Penney switched from a 4-3-3 formation to 4-4-2 for the second half, but there was little improvement. Stockdale pulled off two more flying saves from Knight and Craig Woodman, while Stefan Oakes fired across the face of goal. Quakers nearly levelled on 70 minutes when substitute Rob Purdie fired just wide from the edge of the box. But Wycombe scored a deserved second on 85 minutes when skipper Steve Foster uncharacteristically lost possession on the edge of his own area, allowing McGleish to run through and side-foot the second. Afterwards, Penney revealed that Stockdale might miss Tuesday’s away game at Shrewsbury. And he added: “We weren’t at the races today. “We had too many players who looked jaded and tired. “Wycombe have had a week’s rest and they looked stronger than us. “They thoroughly deserved their victory and they outplayed us from start to finish.” | 
