A THREE-GOAL blast in the first half – including a first ever goal for Ben Hedley – comfortably put Darlington into the third round of the FA Trophy.

Despite being without top scorer Mark Beck because of injury and striker Kaine Felix because of illness, Quakers played some very good football to give them their second win over Alfreton in the space of 11 days, although they had a shaky start to the second half when Alfreton nearly got back into the game. Jack Lambert scored twice to give him seven for the season, with Ben Hedley and Jarrett Rivers scoring the others.

“It was a fantastic performance, I thought some of the football we played was really good and really positive,” said manager Alun Armstrong. “The goals we scored were fantastic and were really good footballing goals. We moved the ball around from left to right, and opened their defence up regularly.

“Darren Holloway and I have been telling Jack to shoot more, and he’s getting success from that as shown by both goals he scored.

“It was a great delivery from Ben for the second goal, because I’ve told the players to put quality balls into the box, and they’ll get success from them. I was delighted for Ben, I don’t know how many shots he’s had to get his first goal! It was the worst celebration I’ve ever seen though.

“It’s been tough for Jarrett, because Covid really affected him, but he’s slowly getting back there. He works ever so hard, and he keeps going.

“I knew what was coming in the second half. Alfreton threw the kitchen sink at us and the sloppiness of the goal we gave away was really poor. I was disappointed that they pulled a goal back, because we allowed them to put balls into areas which were causing us problems. That little bit of sloppiness cost us a clean sheet, which bugs me.

“But we controlled the game after that, and the silly red card for them gave us a lot of breathing space and we put the game to bed.

“The most important thing was to get the job done in the second half. After their goal, we kept the ball well and kept them out, which was good because we were down to the bare bones because of injuries.”

After the first five minutes when Alfreton threatened a couple of times, Quakers got into their stride and took the lead on 20 minutes when Dan Dodds played the ball in for Jacob Hazel, who threaded it it through the Alfreton defence for Lambert to fire across the keeper and into the bottom corner.

Alfreton almost equalised when Conor Branson got through, but Darlington keeper Tommy Taylor pushed his effort over the bar.

Quakers took a firm grip on the game with two goals in as many minutes. Good play up the left between Jassem Sukar and Lambert gave Hedley the opportunity to cross with his right foot into the area from almost on the touchline, and with Hazel the target, the ball bounced on the six-yard line and into the net, with the keeper stuck on his line – Hedley’s first goal in 99 appearances.

Alfreton were on the ropes soon after, when a good move that started well inside Quakers’ own half saw Hedley play the ball back for Ben Liddle in the Alfreton box, and he played the ball forward for Rivers to control and then poke past the keeper for his first goal of the season.

Alfreton came out all guns blazing for the second half, and they pulled a goal back when a cross by Josh Clackstone was nodded down for Dayle Southwell to fire home.

However, when Alfreton defender Adam Lund needlessly and wildly scythed down Hedley, the referee produced an instant red card, and Alfreton’s hopes had gone.

Quakers sealed their place in tomorrow's draw when Danny Rose set up Lambert to fire home.