DARLINGTON started last night’s friendly at Bishop Auckland with a strong side and won 4-0 with a trialist among the scorers.

Simon Ainge started the contest up front, which is where manager Tommy Wright sees him playing more often and could play at Blyth Spartans on Saturday, but it was Stephen Thompson who scored twice.

He netted twice inside the first 20 minutes, one of them a penalty before Bishop had a spot-kick of their own saved by Quakers goalkeeper Jonny Maddison.

He denied Shaun Ryder after Chris Finn had been fouled inside the 18-yard area at Heritage Park.

Darlington do not want to identify the player on trial, who is a striker and scored the third goal after coming off the bench, while fellow substitute Ben O’Hanlon added the fourth goal.

Quakers were captained by long-serving defender Terry Galbraith, and his brother Kieran was in the opposition team who are in contention to win the Northern League title this season.

Bishop Auckland: Proctor, Hoganson, Munro, Staunch, Galbraith, Patton, Ryder, Fryatt, Winn, Salmon, Richardson. Subs: McMahon, Robinson, Claydon, Johnson, Marshall.

Darlington: Maddison, Trotman, Smith, Galbraith, Kokolo, Thompson, Elliott, Palmer, Henshall, Saunders, Ainge. Subs: O’Hanlon, Trialist, Glover, Burn, Lingthep, Lycett, Stansfield, Morrison, Hoare, Holliday