It was all going so well.
Darlington were 2-0 up after half an hour good value for the lead, but they collapsed after to poor defending at set-pieces and three goals early in the second half led to Quakers being well-beaten.
They have one of the best defensive records in the division, but they were no match for Brackley, who have now not lost in their last seven trips to Darlington.
Former Darlington winger Justin Donawa was involved in three of the goals for Brackley Town, who are now level on points with leaders Chester, but deflated Darlington traipsed off the Blackwell Meadows pitch now eight points adrift of the play-offs.
Quakers had started strongly, Sam Hetherington making it 1-0 on his full debut after ten minutes.
Cedric Main held off a defender before playing the ball into the recalled Jack Maskell, and he teed up on-loan Hetherington who found the top corner of the net from inside the penalty area.
Maskell spurned a chance to double Darlington’s advantage, shooting well wide when the better-positioned Caden Kelly was screaming for the ball.
But the 20-year-old made no mistake on 32 minutes. After a Darlington throw, Toby Lees launched the ball deep into the Brackley penalty area, Kelly did well to pull it back for Maskell and he showed composure to beat former Hartlepool goalkeeper Jonny Maxted.
Darlington were 2-0 up and their defence had not been troubled at this stage, but Brackley quickly hit back from a rare attack.
Donawa spent the afternoon hurling a series of long throws into Darlington’s penalty area, and from one of them the unmarked Matt Lowe headed home to make it 2-1 at the break.
It was poor defending by Darlington, Elliot Forbes having lost his man, and there was more slack defending early in the second half.
From another Donawa throw came the equaliser, when Quakers again afforded Lowe space and this time he scored with an overhead kick.
Moments later, Donawa exploited space when he made it 3-2 by calmly prodding the ball beyond Peter Jameson when he had only the goalkeeper to beat.
The scoring was completed on 59 minutes when Morgan Roberts’ corner was forced home at close range by Gareth Dean, Darlington’s failure to defend set-pieces again their undoing.
Steve Watson’s side were shellshocked at this point, taking a while to regroup, and a Quakers comeback never looked likely.
Will Flint’s long-range drive brought a fine save out of Maxted and that was as good as the second half got for beleaguered Darlington.
It was the first time Darlington had conceded four goals at home since a 4-2 defeat to Farsley in March 2020.
Referee: Kavan Hurn
Attendance: 1,416
Darlington (4-3-3): Jameson; Hedley, Lees, Forbes, Barrow; Platt (Flint 54), Hatfield (Cornish 74), Hetherington (Bakre 75); Maskell, Main (Nelson 81), Kelly. Sub not used: Stirland
Brackley (3-4-1-2): Maxted; Lilly, Dean, Carline; Lyttle, Pollock, Byrne (Bates 51), Donawa; Roberts (O’Sullivan 90); Lowe, Hall (Newton 81). Subs not used: Calder, Okafor
