Darlington striker Danny Mellanby's return to action did not go according to plan last night. The 24-year-old was substituted on the advice of referee Paul Nicholson following a reckless lunge on Dunston defender Andy Snaith in the 72nd minute.

Quakers ran out 3-0 winners at Federation Park thanks to goals from trialist Carl Hainiger, Ian Clark and Mark Sheeran.

The win extends Quakers' unbeaten run in pre-season to six games, but it was the ordering off of Mellanby which marred an otherwise encouraging outing for manager Mick Tait's experimental side. "Danny brought it on himself really," said Tait.

"He had a bad touch, tried to recover it and made a bad tackle."

Tait handed a start to French trialist Fabian Bossey and released Newcastle defender Paul Dunn.

Another trialist Hainiger was given his second run-out and it was the former Newcastle youngster who opened the scoring, slotting neatly past Dunston keeper Stuart Dawson. Ian Clark added a second in the 53rd minute, rifling home a superb effort into the top corner of the net, Sheeran then completed the scoring, heading home from close range in the 75th minute.

"It was a good work-out for the lads and I thought they did very well," said Tait.

And the Quakers boss was quick to single out former Clyde midfielder Bossey for special praise, adding: "I was very pleased with Fabian tonight. He knows what the game's about and keeps everything simple."

l Goalkeeper Michael Price yesterday signed a one-month contact after impressing during pre-season.

Darlington: Price, Betts, Dunn, Bossey, McGurk, Summers, Hainiger, Waller, Mellanby, Sheeran, Clark. Subs: Convery, Smith, Bond, Matthewson, Addison, Coghlan.

Dunston: Dawson, Farrey, Taylor, Milburn, Irwin, Holmes, March, Forbes, Hogg, Hallier, Shore. Subs: Pickering, Phillips, Snaith, Young, Wilson and Wilkinson.

l Arsene Wenger has declared his confidence that Patrick Vieira should be fit to start the new season - having signed a new contract by then to secure his Arsenal future, writes Paul walker.

Vieira was due back at the training ground yesterday along with Thierry Henry, Sylvain Wiltord and Robert Pires, who were similarly allowed to rest while their teammates took part in an Austrian pre-season tour.

The Arsenal skipper missed the end of last season due to a knee injury which he then aggravated at a concert, requiring him to have surgery over the summer.

However, Wenger believes that Vieira could take some part in the friendlies against Celtic on Saturday and Rangers three days later, before starting the Community Shield against Manchester United on August 10.

Result: Dunston 0, Darlington 3.

Read more about the Quakers here.