Darlington's hopes of causing a League Cup upset were over almost before they had begun when two conceded goals in the opening quarter of an hour at Huddersfield killed 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 15 minutes 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 were too good for Tommy Taylor's team.

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

Town took the lead within three minutes through Simon Baldry who fired 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 and 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 left-cross from deep 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 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, similar in number to that which attended the Bradford debacle, Quakers could have been forgiven for fearing a repeat scoreline, but 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 possesion longer and create chances so 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.

Huddersfield rediscovered their defending ability to hit-back and Collett had to be alert to prevent a low and powerful Irons free-kick and the keeper then blocked with his chest when former Sunderland striker, Martin Smith, on as a sub, fired powerfully at goal.

The game petered out in the closing stages as the home side remained strong at the back although two young Huddersfield fans did their best to liven up proceedings when, with play continuing at the opposite end of the pitch, they sprinted from one side of the playing area to the other before being ejected by the Police.

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.

MATCHFACTS

Goals: Baldry (3mins, 1-0), Clarke own goal (16, 2-0)

Bookings: None

Referee: R J Beeby

Attendance: 3,810

HUDDERSFIELD (4-3-3): Bevan 7; Jenkins 7, Moses 7, Dyson 7, Sharp 7; Schofield 6, IRONS 8 (Mattis 82), Holland 6; Baldry 7 (Smith 72), Gallacher 7, Stead. Subs not used: Senior, Brown, McDonald.

DARLINGTON (4-4-2): COLLETT 7; McGurk 7, Liddle 6, Clarke 6, Valentine 6; Cullen 6 (Wainwright 33), Maddison 7, Ford 6, Hadland 6, (Nicholls 72); Clark 7 (Naylor 72), Conlon 7. Subs not used: Betts, Sheeran.

MAN OF THE MATCH

KENNY Irons - Controlled the tempo from his midfield role