After wins against Blyth Spartans, Sunderland U21s, Stockton Town, and Newton Aycliffe, Saturday saw a strong showing by Steve Watson’s side against National League opposition.
The goals were scored by goals by Will Hatfield, Cedric Main and Elliot Forbes.
Two loose passes close to goal by Altrincham gifted Darlington chances to opening the scoring, the first seeing Jack Maskell shoot over the bar, the second leading to Hatfield making it 1-0 with a calm finish.
It was a bright start by Quakers, and almost 2-0 but summer signing Josh Scott failed to take an opportunity, aiming too close to Alty goalkeeper Luke Hutchison.
Quakers’ goalkeeper Peter Jameson was a spectator for much of the opening exchanges, until being called on to save from Jimmy Knowles following a flowing move down Altrincham’s right.
Early in the second half, the visitors had a couple of sight of goals: Jameson tipped over a Tom Crawford chip, and Sam Reed blazed over after cutting inside from the left.
This was during a strong spell for the visitors. They should have levelled after a cross from the left by Matty Kosylo, who played for Halifax in Darlington’s first game at Blackwell in 2016-17, was met by fellow substitute Kahrel Reddin but his powerful header was too high.
Striker James Gale made no mistake, however, when he held off Scott Barrow inside the penalty are and blasted past Jameson.
It felt as though the goal had been coming, but parity did not last long thanks to a fine Main goal. He blasted Darlington into a 2-1 lead after twisting past a defender on the byline and shooting into the net off the underside of the crossbar from a tight angle.
And it was 3-1 when Forbes rose highest inside the penalty area to head home a corner by Will McGowan.
Darlington: Jameson, Hedley, Lees, Barrow, Scott, Griffiths (Forbes 60), Hatfield, McGowan, Allan (Rutledge 60), Maskell (Cornish 70), Main.