Bishop Auckland 0 Darlington 8

TRIALIST striker Wilson Kneeshaw helped himself to a hat-trick as Darlington demolished Bishop Auckland.

The tenants had too much for the landlords; stronger and quicker in all departments and running up an emphatic scoreline that accurately reflected the play.

Midfielders Phil Turnbull and Tom Portas ran the show and it was 3-0 at the break, Quakers having selected a first-choice XI for their penultimate friendly, though manager Martin Gray was again absent.

He missed out on a goal glut which saw Terry Galbraith provide assists for both of the first two efforts with Bishop unable to deal with his corners.

Kneeshaw put Darlington ahead early on after keeper Scott Pocklington failed to sufficiently deal with Galbraith’s inswinging delivery, and the ball fell to the striker to stab home.

Chris Hunter then headed home at the back post from Galbraith’s second corner for 2-0.

It was 3-0 when Adam Mitchell’s right-wing cross bounced beyond a handful of players to Stephen Thompson who hit the ball first-time past Pocklington.

Of the ex-Quaker contingent at Bishop, only David Mitchell, Arjun Purewal and Adam Nicholls were in the starting XI, while Mark Bell came off the bench at half time and it was not long before he was picking the ball out of the net.

Kneeshaw made it 4-0, doing well to hold off the much bigger opponent Danny Newbie 20 yards from goal and then stroking a low shot home, before fellow trialist Lewis Gibbons added a fifth goal.

After Galbraith’s attack up the left, Gibbons, playing at right-back where he sometimes played in Sunderland’s youth system, scored at close-range after Bell saved his initial effort.

Gibbons performed well at right-back, and is now the leading contender to start the season as Gary Brown's replacement in the position. Fellow trialists Alex Kitchen, Tom McNamee and Bradley Staunch did not play this evening and have all been released without being offered a deal.

Kneeshaw’s hat-trick came at close-range following a fortunate ricochet, making it 6-0. Darlington want him to sign, but are aware he still hopes to impressive a professional club on trial.

Graeme Armstrong, making a gradual return to action with another appearance as a second-half sub, grabbed the last two goals to complete the rout, the first after exploiting a weak Newbie back pass.

Ultimately the scoreline means little other than to provide a fillip shortly before the real action gets underway on August 15th at Buxton.

Quakers’ last friendly is at Spennymoor Town on Friday evening when they will again field a team at least approaching their first-choice line up.

The only absentees this evening were Kevin Burgess, Adam Nowkowski, Rob Youhill (injured) and Nathan Cartman (holiday).

Bishop Auckland: Pocklington (Bell 46), Mitchell, Purewal (Newbie 46), Irving, Lavery, Lane, Hotchkiss, Thompson (Cocks 55), Nicholls, King (Jobling 64), Martin.

Darlington: Jameson (Provett 46), Gibbons, White, Hunter, Galbraith (Watson 71), Mitchell, Turnbull (Charney 71), Portas (Weldon 71), Thompson (Scott 71), Kneeshaw, Dowson (Armstrong 64)