Darlington lost their taste for the Carling Cup as Wolves' Premiership hangover failed to spill into last night's second round clash at Molineux.

It may not have been the backlash Mick Tait's men were anticipating from Wolves, with just one point recorded in the Premiership and fresh from a 5-0 drubbing at home to Chelsea three days earlier.

But goals from former Sunderland midfielder Alex Rae and Joey Gudjonsson proved enough.

Quakers can go into Saturday's Third Division visit of Boston with their heads held high after giving a far from inspiring Wolves side a real run for their money.

Darlington's recent revival in the League has been built on sheer will and determination and those elements - which helped Quakers see off Bradford in the previous round - were certainly in evidence last night.

Wolves enjoyed a healthy spell of possession in the opening exchanges and after six minutes Rae saw his long-range effort blocked by Quakers' skipper Craig Liddle.

Icelandic international Gudjonsson, on loan from Spanish giants Real Betis, hit a well-struck free-kick which rebounded off the Quakers wall.

As the home side continued to press Portuguese striker Silas saw his effort blocked by former Birmingham defender Joey Hutchinson, before Rae cut inside the box before firing over the bar.

Quakers were clearly overawed by the impressive surroundings of Molineux and a star-studded Wolves side, who also included ex-Arsenal defender Oleg Luzhny.

However, it was the Ukrainian who was at fault in the 23rd minute when he lost possession to Ashley Nicholls.

But his blushes were spared when former Sunderland defender Jody Craddock was positioned well to block the midfielder's goal-bound effort.

Quakers appeared to grow in confidence, much to the frustration of the home supporters.

Rae then sent a header over before Silas skipped past a couple of challenges before firing over.

Again a defensive fault in the Wolves back-line almost let Quakers in as Craddock dragged his pass-back wide into the path of Hughes, but keeper Matt Murray read the situation well.

The deadlock was broken in the 37th minute, with Quakers' previously impressive defence at fault.

Rae was allowed time on the edge of the box before firing low into the bottom corner of the net.

Nigerian international Isaac Okoronkwo almost gifted Quakers an equaliser a minute after the restart when he turned Matt Clarke's cross into the side netting.

Barry Conlon went agonisingly close moments later when he flashed his header wide from Hughes' teasing cross.

Collett had to be at full stretch to deny Colin Cameron minutes into the second half when he pushed his 25-yard effort wide.

But in the 53rd minute Collett failed to claim Mark Kennedy's cross under pressure from Steffen Iversen, and with the goal at his mercy, Gudjonsson steered the ball home from a tight angle.

McGurk then timed his challenge to perfection to deny Wolves a third when he slid the ball away from Iversen. Wolves refused to sit back and Collett produced a wonderful double save, first denying Rae from distance before scrambling across his goal to tip Gudjonsson's scuffed effort away.

Clark almost pulled a goal back for Quakers with a quarter of an hour remaining when his shot was cleared by Craddock.

Conlon went even closer when his header was cleared off the line by Kennedy, who moments later fired woefully wide much to the disgust of the home support, clearly not impressed by their side's display