Darlington's hopes of causing a League Cup upset were over almost before they had begun - two goals in the opening quarter of an hour at Huddersfield killing off any chance of being in the hat for the second round.

Quakers conceded after just three minutes following an uncharacteristic mistake by Craig Liddle and by the 15th minute the game was over as a contest when Town doubled their advantage.

Darlington did fightback and made Huddersfield work for their clean sheet but a solid performance by a superior Second Division side was just too good for Tommy Taylor's team.

Taylor believed the scoreline was harsh on Quakers and his team deserved something out of the second half.

He said: "I thought in the second half we had enough chances to get something out of the game because our game plan worked.

"We came back into it and we created lots of opportunities to score and we could have got two or three with the chances we had.

"I knew that Kenny Irons in the centre of midfield was a very good passer, and in the first 20 minutes I wanted everyone to make sure they did their jobs - but after three minutes we conceded a goal and then they scored another straightaway so we had to change our game plan.

"I want to win every game I play, even pratice games. It's a waste of time resting your best players for games like this, I like to play my best team every week and go for a win.

"I thought that was the best team I could have picked but when you concede so early you might as well throw your tactics out of the window.

"But the League is the priority because I'm hardly going to win the League Cup am I?"

Darlington made two changes with David McGurk coming in for his first start of the season in place of Simon Betts while Phil Hadland regained his starting berth ahead of Glenn Naylor.

Town took the lead within three minutes - Simon Baldry firing past Andy Collett at the far post following a cross from Jon Stead who had capitilised on a Liddle error on the edge of his own penalty area.

The Darlington captain gifted possesion to Stead which led to the early strike and evoked memories of Quakers' 7-2 reverse at Bradford in the League Cup two years ago - those thoughts were particularly prominent when Huddersfield scored again 13 minutes later.

With Quakers struggling to get out of their own half, Kenny Irons whipped in a cross from deep on the left and the unfortunate Matt Clarke could not react quickly enough as the ball bounced off his head into the net - although Darlington could have argued Liddle was pushed to the ground.

Town continued to push forward and forced several corners while Baldry was unlucky not to double his tally when he turned sharply and saw his shot deflected wide before Stead tested Collett with a rasping left-foot drive from distance.

In front of a sparse crowd Darlington slowly crept back into the game and Mark Ford should have pulled a goal back shortly before the half-hour mark when Barry Conlon headed into the the ex-Leeds man's path but Ford poked his effort wide from six yards.

Reacting to the hosts' domination, Tommy Taylor brought on Neil Wainwright for Jon Cullen and minutes later Quakers came within inches of scoring when Ryan Valentine, fresh from his appearance for Wales under-21s in Finland last Friday, curled in a free-kick which fell to Liddle who smacked the crossbar with an outstretched foot.

The incident marked the beginning of an upturn in Darlington's fortunes as Taylor's side began to keep possession and create chances, and it was tough luck on Hadland who saw his shot saved after Wainwright pulled the ball back from the by-line.

In a huge turnaround from the beginning of the game, Darlington began the second half as the better side as they forced Huddersfield on to the backfoot but could not find the goal needed although Hadland came close with a drive from 20 yards, and Town keeper Scott Bevan had to be at full-stretch to tip over Neil Maddison's stunning left-foot volley from the edge of the box.

The game petered out in th closing stages as the home side remained strong at the back.

Although Darlington did enjoy two productive spells lasting 15 minutes either side of the break, ultimately, the first opening 15 minutes put paid to any giant-killing hopes.

Result: Huddersfield Town 2 Darlington 0.

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