Darlington 0, City 1

Steve Williams texted Michael Flynn after the Rochdale flop to say sorry for the way he’d played.

The big defender was distraught over the blunder which put the skids under City as they tumbled to the heaviest home loss of the season.

But four days on, Williams was the toast of his team-mates by scoring a redeeming winner in the north-east – and Flynn made sure he was at the front of the queue to say well done.

Flynn said: “For a player to send a text message like that shows how much he cares. I have full respect for Willo for doing that.

“But these boys here all care and they all want to do well for the manager. We were just as hurt as anybody else after Tuesday.”

A lot of steam has been let off since Rochdale. Message boards have seethed with indignation following such an awful night.

Fans – not to mention the manager – were entitled to feel let down at the way such a hyped-up match swiftly turned into a one-sided non-event.

Normal service, of a sort, was restored in the eerily empty Darlington Arena on Saturday. City reacted with the right result, even if the way in which it was achieved was nothing to write home about.

The job got done with few frills or fuss. Against a side that had shipped 13 goals in three outings, one proved to be sufficient.

And how appropriate that it should come from the head of the novice defender who had taken the blame so personally for the previous slip-up.

Stuart McCall talked about the self-inflicted pressure City took into the game and nobody felt that more so than Williams.

McCall said: “People think of his last game and it wasn’t his best. But you could say that about nine of them who were on the pitch that night.

“I had a good chat with Willo on Friday about his confidence and he’s shown great character.

“You look at him throughout the season and he’s been doing far better than we could have hoped for from where he’s come from. But he’s got to keep learning and he will do that.”

Lee Bullock always makes the point that players are in League Two because of their inconsistency. If they were good enough to play at a decent level week in, week out, they wouldn’t be plying their trade in the basement division.

It explains why results in this league fluctuate so wildly compared with higher up the food chain.

By the League Two law of averages, everyone will have a shocker or two at some point. It’s how you respond next time out.

The most consistent results have been churned out by the boys at the bottom. They get beaten every week.

If City think they’ve got it bad, spare a thought for the long-suffering Darlo faithful; very few in number and pretty much devoid of hope.

A Darlington steward took exception to the “going down” chant from the boisterous away end. He argued: “They’ve got it wrong – we’re already down. We’re just playing out time now.”

That sense of defeatism is underlined by the fact Darlo have used 40 different players already – half of which appear to have been on loan. But the ship lacks a skipper because Steve Foster is consigned to ‘gardening leave’ on the substitutes’ bench because his contract is too expensive for the cash-strapped club.

Darlington are clearly there for the taking – and should have been once City turned almost total possession into a breakthrough midway through the first half.

The visitors had already set up camp in the Darlo half when corner number six brought its reward. Scott Neilson, looking sharp on his recall, whipped it to the far post where Williams burrowed through to score with a stooping header.

That should have signalled a goal avalanche to match the recent tallies clocked up by Chesterfield, Morecambe and Notts County.

Had James Hanson buried the headed chances that came his way, City would indeed have won by a canter.

But opportunities kept coming and going. Bullock, seemingly destined never to get off the mark, shanked a shot while Simon Whaley’s effort was deflected straight into the keeper by Michael Boulding.

The striker was one of three changes from midweek as McCall also switched formation to accommodate two wingers in a 4-4-2.

City should have been out of sight by the break, so the slender advantage at the interval caused a few concerns in the away dressing room.

But Darlington hardly crackled with attacking intent themselves. It took them until 12 minutes from time to win their only corner.

They did get better in the second half though, particularly after the introduction of Aston Villa rookie James Collins. He gave them a bit of spark up front, although Williams and the recalled Matt Clarke kept a tight rein on his battering ram partner Lee Thorpe.

As the game and City became scrappier, Darlington began to have more joy. But Simon Eastwood still only made one real save of note to cling on to a fierce drive from Jonathan Hogg, another Villa loanee.

So City answered the criticism to a degree and made it two wins from three. Now to register a long-overdue victory on home soil against Rotherham.

McCall admitted: “If we hadn’t taken the three points it would have been doom and gloom. It was vital we took them and we did.

“Everyone was a bit anxious at half-time, saying that we needed the second goal under our belt. But the bottom line was that if we defended strongly and kept a clean sheet we’d win the game.

“We were a little bit sloppy but we still had opportunities and deserved the points. Now we want to put on a show at home where we’ve not won so many.” Attendance: 2,744