CHORLEY put eight past Darlington to cruise to victory on Tuesday night at the Chorley Group Victory Park Stadium - Billy Whitehouse walking away with the match-ball under the lights.
The Magpies got off to the best possible start after only four minutes, MARK ELLIS left unmarked at the back post from Jack Moore and the former made no mistake, drilling the ball into the far-corner past Tommy Taylor in goal.
Mark Ellis fires home the opening goal (David Airey)
Things got worse for the visitors only a couple of minutes later, Andrew Nelson sent off after putting in a high and dangerous challenge.
After the sending off, the Magpies were in total control - ADAM HENLEY doubling the advantage as he capitalised on a loose ball from an initial half-clearance, before firing an effort low and hard past Taylor.
OLLIE SHENTON quickly added the third with a wonder-strike from 25 yards that nestled into the top-corner, leaving the Quakers' stopper with absolutely no chance between the posts.
The Magpies went in at the break three-to-the-good but didn't rest on their laurels after the restart, JUSTIN JOHNSON adding further insult to injury on 53 minutes as he latched on to Matt Urwin's long ball before beating two defenders, then shooting into the bottom corner.
Andy Preece made two changes before the hour mark in introducing Josh Popoola and David Moyo to the action and the former quickly made an impact, assisting BILLY WHITEHOUSE with a cross from the left that found the latter and he made no mistake with his weaker left-foot.
WHITEHOUSE then went on to grab his second of the night thanks to a lapse in concentration from Darlo's Jonny Ngandu who gave the ball away cheaply to our number seven, he then did the rest in comfortably finding the far corner.
Chorley weren't done there though as the visitors unfortunately fell further behind via Adriano Moke, who to his mis-fortune looped the ball over Taylor after David Moyo looked to put his foot in to challenge for the ball.
Moyo continued to push to get in on the act deep into stoppage time and was eventually taken down inside the area, leaving WHITEHOUSE with the opportunity to grab his hat-trick from the spot and he made no mistake in doing so - leaving Chorley to runaway as 8-0 winners on the night.
Chorley: Urwin, Moore, Smith, Ellis, Henley (Wilson, 71') Nolan, Shenton, Calveley, Johnson (Popoola, 58') Sampson (Moyo, 58'), Whitehouse. Unused: Hazlehurst, Ubaezuonu.
Darlington: Taylor, Hedley, Burton, Lawlor (Lees, 16'), Rowe, Hatfield (Moke, 68') Lindsay, Rivers (Simms, 45+2'), Nganda, Salkeld, Nelson. Unused: Platt, Griffiths.
Goalscorers: ⚽ Ellis (4'), Henley (23'), Shenton (27'), Johnson (53'), Whitehouse (66', 74', 90+3'), own-goal (84').
Caution: 🟨 Smith (61').
Dismissal: 🟥 Nelson (6').
Referee: Matthew McQuillan.
Assistants: Benjamin Schofield & Bilal Moosa.
Attendance: 819.
50/50 Draw: £32 - 08612, £47 - 06146, £80 - 08349.
Next Up: We're back at home for our third game in a row this Saturday to take on Scarborough Athletic in the FA Trophy.
Online Tickets: https://tickets.chorleyfc.com/events/IsuzuFAtrophy%20-%20ChorleyVScarborough
Please note for SEASON TICKET HOLDERS, for our game vs Scarborough Athletic you will need to purchase tickets as your ST does not cover FA Trophy fixtures.