WORCESTER City suffered their heaviest defeat of the season when they made the lengthy trip to Darlington.

Seven days after overcoming Stalybridge Celtic 4-0, City dropped two places to 14th in Vanarama National League North after being stuffed 5-1 by the in-form Quakers.

The promotion-chasing hosts, unbeaten in seven league fixtures, put five past Gainsborough Trinity a week ago and in County Durham they did the same to Carl Heeley’s beleaguered men, who were 3-0 down at the break with two of the goals being almost identical corner routines.

The first came on 19 minutes with Josh Gillies swinging the ball into the near post where centre-half Gary Brown headed home.

There was almost a swift equaliser when Colby Bishop, recalled ahead of Micah Evans, glanced a header wide when meeting a cross whipped in by Cieron Keane.

The City winger was soon required for defensive duty, taking the ball off Liam Marrs’ toes as the full-back raced into the penalty area.

From the same attack, however, Darlington doubled their lead with striker Mark Beck heading home Stephen Thompson’s cross after Worcester were unable to deal with Brown’s long throw-in.

Keeper Ryan Boot got a hand to Beck’s header but succeeded only in palming it into the net.

At the other end, experienced forward Lee Hughes was largely a spectator with his one sight of goal seeing him shoot over from 18 yards after Ebby Nelson-Addy carried the ball through midfield.

Hughes rued the miss as it became 3-0 just before the break.

Worcester left-back Tyler Weir stopped a Beck header on the goal-line but, from the resulting Gillies corner, Brown again headed beyond Boot with all three first-half goals being headers.

The fourth was from the boot of Beck, making the most of Worcester’s inability to clear their lines after a Terry Galbraith corner.

Although Hughes cleared Phil Turnbull’s effort off the line and Boot saved from Gillies, eventually Quakers’ striker made it 4-0 and soon came Darlington’s final goal.

With Worcester skipper Andy Gallinagh occupied with attempting to stop Gillies, up popped Quakers left-back Galbraith in an advanced position and his pacey delivery met the perfectly-timed run of an unmarked Dave Syers to head in on 57 minutes.

Syers had been on the pitch only a matter of minutes but his header concluded Quakers’ scoring as the hosts declared on five, playing for time during the remainder of a fixture which died a death.

Worcester did not lose heart, however, with a shift in formation to 4-5-1 resulting in Heeley’s men seeing more of the ball and Nelson-Addy nabbed a consolation on 71 minutes.

The tall midfielder took advantage of a back-peddling defence to fire under Peter Jameson from 20 yards for Worcester’s one bright moment on an otherwise forgettable day.