DARLINGTON moved up to tenth with a victory as convincing as the 6-0 scoreline suggests, taking three points in blizzard-like conditions against North Ferriby which all but ensures they have avoided relegation.

Their sixth win in eight games has hoisted the team into the top half, 12 points from the drop zone, but North Ferriby are now effectively relegated.

It has been inevitable for months, but the bottom-of-the-table side are now 24 points from safety with eight games remaining and lumbered with a -71 goal difference.

Quakers, on the other hand, are two points off the play-offs with seven matches remaining, though most teams have games in hand on Darlington.

They boosted their goal difference statistics after scoring six without reply, five of the goals coming in the first half when kicking into the wind at Blackwell Meadows.

The conditions were tough for both teams, Quakers coping better than the visitors, and taking the lead on 16 minutes when Dave Syers scored from close-range after a pass by Stephen Thompson.

It was Syers’ eighth goal of the season in his 30th game, a tally which put him briefly one behind Thompson, who then scored twice more the break.

He made it 2-0 on 29 minutes with a penalty after goalkeeper Ross Durrant felled Joe Wheatley.

Seven days after having a penalty saved against Curzon Ashton, this time Thompson confidently blasted home.

Although 2-0 down, North Ferriby were not out of the contest entirely, having a good spell with Luke Lofts seeing an 18-yard shot saved by Aynsley Pears.

But Darlington made it 3-0 on 37 minutes, back-heeled in by Reece Styche after good work by Luke Trotman.

Though a defender got the final touch when attempting to clear off the line, it will be credited as Styche’s goal, his tenth for the club in 15 games.

It was 4-0 when Thompson took a couple of touches, was afforded time and space to get his head up and pick his spot from 20 yards or so, and Josh Gillies added the fifth in added time, scoring when one-on-one with goalkeeper Ross Durrant.

Durrant made a handful of saves in the second half, which was a tamer affair with the game already won, though Quakers assistant boss Alan White was sent from the technical area for pushing a North Ferriby player.

Durrant stopped a sixth goal after good work by Thompson, who charged down the middle, holding off Jordan Harrison, before passing to Syers, and his shot was saved well by the keeper.

It was Syers’ last involvement, soon replaced by 16-year-old midfielder Mitchell Glover, and manager Tommy Wright made two more substitutions with James Caton and Greg Mills entering the fray.

Mills was involved in the sixth goal. He took a short corner to Phil Turnbull, who swung the ball in to the far post where Gillies picked it up and drilled home his second of the game.

Gillies set up Glover to score what would have been a seventh goal, the pair exchanging passes, but the teenager blazed over from the edge of the box.

Goals: Syers (16, 1-0), Thompson pen (29, 2-0), Styche (37, 3-0), Thompson (42, 4-0), Gillies (45, 5-0), Gillies (69, 6-0)

Bookings: Harrison (60, persistent infringements)

Referee: Steven Copeland (Liverpool)

Attendance: 1,087

Darlington (4-2-3-1): Pears; Trotman, Heaton, Galbraith, O’Hanlon; Wheatley, Turnbull; Thompson (Caton 64), Syers (Glover 57), Gillies; Styche (Mills 64). Subs not used: Bancroft, Vaulks 

North Ferriby (4-5-1): Durrant; Clappison, Piercey, Mail, Cook; George (Nicholls 57), Forrester, Johnson, Collins, Lofts (Deavey) 68); Harrison (Dunkerley 76). Subs not used: Exall, Bannister