Darlington striker Barry Conlon rammed the jeers of his former fans back down their throats with a decisive double strike at Feethams last Saturday.

The visiting York City supporters taunted the ex-Minstermen forward mercilessly from the start, but the big Irishman responded by scoring his first goals since September in a 3-1 win for the Quakers.

The result was a good response by Darlington to the previous weekend's 7-1 drubbing at Scunthorpe, but manager Tommy Taylor is well aware that there is still plenty of scope for improvement.

It might have been a different story had York striker Michael Proctor converted one of several chances or Chris Brass put away a penalty just before half-time.

By then Quakers were already 2-0 ahead. Ian Clark continued his promising start with his new club when he broke the deadlock after 23 minutes, prodding the ball home after a Brian Atkinson free kick caused confusion in the York goalmouth.

Three minutes later Richard Hodgson intercepted a poor pass by Darren Edmondson and set up Conlon to blast home the second.

The victory was sealed 15 minutes from time when Clark released Conlon, who smashed a low shot into the far corner from the edge of the area.

Taylor was annoyed that Quakers allowed Proctor to pull one back six minutes from time, but the three points were a timely confidence-booster ahead of tomorrow's trip to Altrincham in the FA Cup second round.

Conlon is suspended for that game - although Quakers were hopeful earlier this week that their appeal against his sending off at Scunthorpe would be successful - and Darlington will need a professional performance against the once-renowned giantkillers to set up the possibility of drawing a glamour club in the third round.

The game against the Unibond league side will be one of those featured on Match of the Day and kicks off at 1pm.