ACCRINGTON Stanley's Darlington duck continued as the reds were well beaten by the north east side.

For the third time in two seasons, Stanley made chances, but were punished for not taking them as the Quakers made the most of their opportunities to run out 3-0 winners.

Boss John Coleman made one change to the side which lost against Leicester City in the League Cup, with Graham Branch coming in for Leam Richardson at left back.

Stanley came out of the blocks quickly and enjoyed a good amount of possession but neither side made any clear cut chances in the early stages.

The first goalkeeper called into action was Darlington's David Stockdale as he held on to Lee McEvilly's low free kick on 20 minutes.

But that was not to be the trend, and the visitors soon opened the scoring.

With 25 minutes gone Dave Penney's side broke the deadlock when full back Rob Purdie swung a cross in from the right hand side into the danger area.

Keeper Kenny Arthur elected not to come for the ball, only to see unmarked striker Tommy Wright stoop to head the ball past him and into the net.

Wright's strike partner Pawel Abbott stated his intent moments later with a volley which was comfortably saved by Kenny before causing the Scot further trouble.

Nine minutes from time, the Darlington number nine put Arthur under pressure when the keeper was in possession, and his hurried clearance only found a player in black and white.

Midfielder Michael Cummins, a scorer at the Fraser Eagle Stadium last season, was the benefactor but his chip from range was over both Arthur and the crossbar.

The let off seemed to catalyse the reds into action and within seconds they might have been level.

McEvilly found himself inside the box on the left hand side and pulled the trigger only to see his effort deflected behind for a corner. Then the same player failed to even test the goalkeeper with an even better chance.

Rommy Boco won the ball for Stanley in the centre circle and swiftly set McEvilly away on the right.

The 25-year-old advanced into the 18 yard box and shaped perfectly to strike it right footed but Stockdale remained untroubled as he dragged the shot wide of the far post.

Deep into stoppage time the industrious Boco made a break for the byline on the right side and hammered in a low centre, only to see the touch at the near post come from a defender not a team mate and the ball only go out for a corner.

Coleman would have wanted a bright start to the second period, but that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Just three minutes after the restart Chris Palmer swung the ball in from the left and with the Stanley defence still reorganising after a set piece Abbott was left with the routine task of stroking the ball under Arthur from 12 yards.

With the deficit doubled the home side suddenly came to life and started to make things happen. 56 minutes had gone when Andy Procter launched a counter attack, saw no support and elected to shoot from distance.

But the midfielder just misjudged the strike and it ended up with the Stanley fans in the Clayton End after flying just over the bar.

Jay Harris was then denied by Stockdale and then a deflection before Procter rose to meet a Peter Cavanagh cross but found only the former York City keeper with his header.

With time ticking away Shaun Whalley replaced the disappointing John Miles and Leighton McGivern was introduced for Graham Branch with Stanley switching to three at the back.

But the extra attacker made little difference despite Cavanagh almost finishing a move he'd started by latching onto McGivern's backheel and shooting wide of the left hand post four minutes from the end and Harris going close with an 89th minute drive.

After grabbing their second the visitors were content to sit back, but still managed to add a third.

A ball over the top in stoppage time left Robbie Williams exposed and the Stanley defender hauled down substitute Gregg Blundell in the box.

Referee Mark Heywood had no hesitation in pointing to the spot, and Abbott stepped up to grab his second of the afternoon, sending Arthur the wrong way.