Automatic Promotion not for Darlington - Penney

The Darlington manager Dave Penney has admitted that their defeat by Hereford United this afternoon means they're unlikely to gain automatic promotion to League One but he did think they should have had at least one penalty.

"They started quite bright but then we got into the game, but we are not really looking like scoring. A goal was going to come from a penalty and we looked like we were going to get one or a set piece. We don't look a real threat during general play and obviously the goal they scored is a fluke really. Fozza closed the centre forward down, smashed it clear and its hit the midfielder and then it comes back to him. Then Stocky makes a good save and the kids followed it up well to be fair but thats the way it's going at the moment.

"It's a fine line is success and failure and at this moment in time we are the wrong side of it. I would never criticise this bunch of players for working their socks off because they do. I think we could do with being a bit more patient on the ball, because when we did that we opened them up a couple of times. We need to be braver on the ball and take some more touches, not just smash it up to Tommy Wright because that's the easy option.

"The second penalty appeal was more of a penalty and Rob Purdie is an honest lad and he is adament it was a pen, but you're clutching at straws if you're looking for a penalty to win you games. We've scored one goal in the last four games and that was a penalty, we need to get some centre forwards back quickly and get some wide men back quickly and start scoring some goals quickly.

"We are obviously not going to get automatic now, even the most optimistic of us know we aint going to get that. We still need a couple of points to make sure we are definately in the play offs, so as we've said we've got get some players fit, we've got to get some kind of form and get some confidence back, so if we do get into the play offs we hit the ground running."

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