Aldershot 3 Darlington 1

Aug 9 2009 Sunday Sun

DARLINGTON will hope that this was a case of teething troubles as their new-look side was given a mauling.

The club came out of administration just a day before the game, and if a side that included nine new faces hoped for time to bed in they didn’t get it.

Aldershot went ahead in the third minute when the Darlington defence played Marvin Morgan on-side and he raced clear to fire past keeper David Knight and inside the far post.

Geoff Smith missed a chance to equalise for Quakers in the 12th minute, but he blazed over with a close-range volley.

A slick Aldershot side had the pace and passing game to stretch the Darlington defence, but they were gifted their second on the half hour when Knight dropped Ben Harding’s cross, leaving Andy Sandell to fire home.

Smith, one of the new players, thought he had scored on his debut, but his rising drive was ruled out for a push by Lee Thorpe as he set up the chance.