BARNSLEY 4 (Fedorenko 32, 35; Meynell 39; Adam 71)
DARLINGTON 1 (Thompson 69 (P))

BARNSLEY'S youngsters did all the hard work in a goal-crazy seven minute spell in the first half to set up a comfortable win at Oakwell.

Barnsley started purposefully and the fledging Reds twice went close inside the opening seven minutes as Rhys Meynell and Jacob Butterfield fired in on David Stockdale's goal. Michael Coulson then saw a deflected cross bring the very best from the Darlington keeper at the near post on eleven minutes.

Luke Fedorenko was next to try his luck on 14 minutes but his shot struck a defender and bounced through to Stockdale.

The best Darlington could offer in the opening stages came a minute later when Patrick Collins headed high over the bar from Martin Gritton's right wing cross.

The Quakers came on strong and Collins forced Kyle Letheren into a save on 15 minutes with a low shot from 25 yards but the Welsh U21 international was easily behind his effort.

Collins was in the thick of the action again on 20 minutes as he crashed a low shot against a defender and wide before heading over from Xavier Barrau's corner.

Britton had the Reds defence scrambling on 23 minutes when his deep corner gave Kevin Burgess a chance but the defender planted his header wide of the mark from eight yards out.

Darlington went close again on 27 minutes when Collins rose highest to glance Britton's fine cross wide of the target. Stephen Thompson then brought a save from Letheren with a low shot distance just after the half hour.

The opening goal came on 32 minutes after the Quakers defence had made a mess of clearing Coulson's low cross. Scott McGrory hammered the ball back across goal for Jamil Adam to knock into Fedorenko's path and the youngster simply could not miss from six yards out.

Fedorenko grabbed a bizarre second just three minutes later when he cut in from the left and shot straight at Stockdale only for the Quakers keeper to fumble the ball over the line.

Stockdale's woeful afternoon continued on 39 minutes when he rushed out to meet Danny Smith's looping free kick only to smash straight into McGrory on the six yard line. The ball bounced free and Meynell was on hand to rifle it into an unguarded net.

The Reds should have had a fourth just two minutes after the restart when Marciano Van Homoet's cross caught out the Quakers defence and Meynell missed a golden opportunity to head home.

Darlington never gave up and Thompson dragged a shot wide of the target on the hour mark before the striker's ridiculous dive earned the visitors a penalty nine minutes later. Thompson rifled the spot kick into the top corner.

The Reds responded well and Van Homoet showed great pace to out run the Darlington defence on 71 minutes and planted over a fine cross that Adam bundled over the line from six yards.

Britton's frustrations boiled over on 73 minutes when he was shown a yellow card for hacking down Fedorenko. It should have been worse for the ex-Torquay winger when he went straight through Fedorenko again on 81 minutes but escaped with a warning.

The game ended in controversial fashion when Van Homoet was shown a second yellow following a confrontation with Thompson. Thompson escaped with just a caution when he also should have followed the Reds full back up the tunnel as both players raised their hands in the incident.

Thompson's antics were not lost on the Reds and the Darlington striker was later left in a heap following an aerial tussle with the Barnsley defence.

BARNSLEY: Letheren, Van Homoet (Sent Off 83), Smith, Potter, Waterfall, Meynell, S. McGrory (Grundy 87), Butterfield, Coulson (Watts 85), Adam (G. McGrory 89), Fedorenko.
Subs: Mellor, Free.

DARLINGTON: Stockdale, Wiseman, Dobby, Hardman (Todd 66), Burgess, Brackstone, Britton, McBride, Thompson, Collins, Barrau.
Subs: Riley, Groves, Caley, Pocklington.