Oasis nothing more than mirage for Quakers fans

5:03am Monday 19th May 2008

Where did it all go wrong? That's the question Darlington will be asking themselves after seeing their side throw away a two-goal advantage and with it a glorious chance of a first promotion since 1991.

Instead Rochdale took a giant stride towards ending their own prolonged stay in the fourth tier of English football while Darlington remain where they have been for far too long.

Dale manager Keith Hill had asked supporters to join in with a pre-match rendition of Oasis song Wonderwall, but all Darlington boss Dave Penney can do now is say to Quakers fans is: don't look back in anger

Expectations had been high throughout the season, and following last week's first leg win Darlington appeared to be halfway to Wembley.

But Jason Kennedy, a scorer last week, probably wished he could have been half the world away when his penalty shoot-out effort was saved by Dale keeper Tommy Lee.

His strike was rammed straight down the middle in not dissimilar fashion to the kick his Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate missed that spelled the end of England's Euro 96 dream.

Once Ben Muirhead scored the tie-clinching penalty, Darlington's promotion dreams died for another year, meaning next season they will be in League Two. Again. When there'll be yet more trips to the likes of Bury, Grimsby, Macclesfield and Lincoln et al. Again.

It is a depressing thought, as is the prospect of Darlington inheriting the stigma of being the bottom division's longest occupants should Rochdale beat Stockport at Wembley a week today.

Dale have been stuck in the division since 1974 whereas Darlington have been going nowhere since 1992.

For much of the season Penney's side appeared to be on the verge of saying goodbye to trips to annual trips to Gigg Lane, Blundell Park, Moss Rose and Sincil Bank. But the promotion dream began to slide away long before Muirhead sealed Darlington's fate.

Form prior to March had taken Quakers to third, but since then injury after injury has severely hampered progress and, in essence, are to blame for the severe downturn in form that cost automatic promotion.

Richie Foran, Tommy Wright and Pawel Abbott were all key players and would have played a vital role.

Abbott made a surprise appearance on the team sheet, although it soon transpired to be an error which caused confusion and no doubt stunned Rochdale.

Although he did travel, Penney later explained that Abbott's inclusion on the bench had been a clerical error, as the striker is still recovering from a hamstring strain, and instead 15-year-old Curtis Main was a sub.

Including such an inexperienced player in a game of such magnitude says it all about Darlington's injury problems, although Penney has always done his best not to hide behind them.

But he admitted: "It's difficult not to blame the injuries and try just to get on with things, but in the end they probably have caught up with us.

"Given the injuries we've had, it's been a good season because we put ourselves in a position to challenge for the top three but, because of the injuries, we couldn't quite get there.

"We've been near the top most of the season but it's been a tough season and the injuries has been the major disappointment.

"It's not an excuse, we probably had something like 11 or 12 missing. That includes some big players and that has been the difference between getting promoted and staying in this division. Any squad would miss their quality."

Darlington may have been without some of their usual heroes but at 1-0 thanks to a 28th minute Clark Keltie penalty, given after Rene Howe tugged Kennedy's shirt, they were keeping the dream alive.

Quakers had weathered the early storm that saw Chris Dagnall head over from close-range and then David Stockdale, not at his best in his last game for the club, handed the same Dale striker a chance by failing to clear sufficiently when racing out of his penalty area.

With Stockdale stranded, Dagnall fired over from 25 yards and then came Keltie's penalty, hammered high into the net and his fifth from five attempts this season, after which Darlington had a 3-1 aggregate lead and were comfortable.

Penney's masterplan was working.

The home support fell silent and Darlington supporters even began to taunt former winger Adam Rundle.

He responded by supplying the free-kick from which Dagnall scrambled home the equaliser after Stockdale fumbled.

Now 3-2 on aggregate just before the break, it was a huge lift for Dale though Ricky Ravenhill saw a shot hit the bar shortly after the restart, and then Darlington suffered another blow.

Given the injury problems, it was only fitting that the season finished with another addition to physio Will Short's sick list, this time it was makeshift striker Micky Cummins who limped off.

Playing up front due to the absence of injured forwards Wright, Abbott and Gregg Blundell - the latter two both arriving at the ground on crutches - Cummins left on sticks too after sustaining an ankle injury early in the second half.

Penney admitted: "Again another centre-forward was injured. Micky going off was a blow because he was doing excellently, and we had nobody to hold the ball up for us after he went off.

"For the first hour he did that job but in the second half we couldn't get hold of the ball and couldn't get out of our own half."

That was partly due to Cummins' replacement being the largely ineffective Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu. Either uninterested or unfit, perhaps both, he contributed very little.

Dale keeper Lee had hardly been troubled although Keltie fired inches over as the finishing line, or was it the Wembley arch, began to come into sight.

The 2,000 Darlington fans sensed as much and were in great voice, a long awaited promotion was edging nearer.

But then with just 12 minutes to play, out of nothing the diminutive David Perkins fired into the net from 20 yards, aided by a deflection off Kennedy.

It was a moment that will live forever in Rochdale, and despondent Darlington fans will be unable too forget either.

In extra-time Ravenhill felt his shot had been stopped by a Dale hand in the penalty area, then Joachim should have passed to the better-placed Craig Nelthorpe before Perkins went from hero to zero.

The whirling dervish in midfield, unmissable with his shock of white hair, earned his third red card of season for a lunge at the already-grounded Ravenhill.

It mattered little as, after Adam Le Fondre skimmed the top of the bar and Kennedy fired over, penalties were required during which neither side could be separated for the first eight kicks.

Darlington's scorers were Ndumbu-Nsungu, Rob Purdie, Neil Wainwright, Ravenhill and then came Kennedy. Hard and low down the middle, Lee saved with his legs and Muirhead finished off the job.

Darlington were devastated. So close, so far.

It should not be forgotten however, that it was not long ago that Darlington were in dreadful form and fearing the worst heading into the play-offs.

But over the course of the two legs not once were Quakers behind and they were only beaten on penalties, while Dale's three goals were two deflected long-range punts and a scrambled effort. Stop crying your hearts out, there's always next year. Unfortunately it will be in League Two. Again.