The last time we met Stalybridge was at Heritage Park on 24th September 2016.

Darlington 4 Stalybridge 1

Darlington climbed up to third in the Vanarama National League North with a good 4-1 home win over Stalybridge, with both sides reduced to ten men.

Quakers took the lead after just 4 minutes. The ball went to Stephen Thompson out on the right and he put the ball into the middle where Liam Hardy volleyed past Tony McMillan from a few yards for his sixth goal of the season.

Quakers were well on top at this stage, so it was a shock when Stalybridge levelled on 16 minutes when Sam Madeley and Andy Owens combined well, and Owens sprinted clear to slot into the bottom left hand corner.

Quakers went back into the lead on 36 minutes. Josh Gillies showed a good burst of speed that took him round the back on the defence on the left, and he pulled the ball back perfectly for Hardy to fire into the top corner.

Quakers went 3-1 up on 44 minutes with Gillies involved again. Thompson had a shot parried by McMillan, and the ball came back out for Thompson to pull back for Gillies to stroke home his third goal of the season.

Quakers were reduced to ten men on 55 minutes when sub Leon Scott, on for the injured Tom Portas, went in late on Callum Bagshaw prompting a scuffle between a few players, and the referee eventually showed him a red card.

But just a few minutes later Stalybridge were reduced to ten men when Madeley was shown his second yellow for a late tackle on Marrs.

Quakers went 4-1 up on 64 minutes when Mark Beck nodded the ball down for Thompson on the edge of the area, where he sent two defenders the wrong way and curled the ball into the top corner.

Hardy nearly made it 5-1 when he collected a pass from Thompson, beat two defenders and the keeper, rolled the ball towards goal, but a defender got back and cleared the ball off the line.

Right at the end, Cartman put Beck in the clear and he put the ball just wide of the post as the keeper advanced.

Woolston, Marrs, Watson, Falkingham, Nowakowski, Galbraith, Thompson, Portas (sub Scott 46 mins), Beck, Hardy (sub Cartman 70 mins), Gillies (sub Mitchell 58 mins)

Subs:  Jameson, Purewal