Darlington 2 City of Liverpool 0

Quakers ,though, should have made the game safe a lot earlier than they did, as they missed several good chances after Luke Charman gave them the lead.

The Scousers almost took the lead on five minutes, when Dominic Reid hit a shot from the edge of the box that took a deflection and went just past the post, with keeper Melvin Minter, in goal instead of Johnny Saltmer, going the wrong way.

Quakers responded with a right foot curler shot by Erico Sousa that flew just over the top corner.

They took the lead on 12 minutes with a superb goal by Charman, who picked the ball up 30 yards out and hit a sweet right-foot shot that flew over keeper Theo Roberts into the top left corner for his fifth goal of the season.

The former Newcastle youngster nearly got a second, his header from Tony McMahon’s right-wing cross going just over.

However, City were quite enterprising, and Minter saved a long-range effort by Jack Hazelhurst under his own crossbar.

Quakers took control of the game before half-time, and created several opportunities. McMahon had a well-hit free kick touched over the bar by Roberts, then Jarrett Rivers had a close-range shot blocked after a good run by Joe Wheatley.

It was nearly 2-0 after the resumption, when McMahon broke down the right and hit the ball to the far post from where Sousa sidefooted wide.

And then a neat build up down the right saw Charman released in the box, and his low pass for Sousa was turned just past his own goal by a defender.

Quakers missed a great chance on 58 minutes when Sousa cut in from the left and set up Campbell, whose shot from six yards was blocked on the line by a defender with Quakers appealing for handball.

The goal frame denied sub Dan Maguire on 71 minutes when he latched on to Sousa’s short pass, but fired against the base of the post.

It was therefore something of a relief for Quakers on 75 minutes when O’Neill won the ball on the halfway line and sent Sousa racing through to score.