29-07-08: Darlington (a) 0-0 (HT 0-0) Crowd (3,441)

Programme:

United wore their yellow shirts bearing the name of new sponsor Netflights.com for their Tuesday night visit to the Darlington Arena. They had Jermaine Beckford back from injury and new signing Robert Snodgrass on the bench, as they lined up for the kick-off with: Casper Ankergren; Frazer Richardson, Paul Huntington, Rui Marques, Alan Sheehan; David Prutton, Jonathan Howson, Fabian Delph, Andy Robinson; Enoch Showunmi, Jermaine Beckford. The game started slowly as Enoch Showunmi shot over and Alan Sheehan was wide from a free-kick before the Darlington keeper was tested for the first time after eighteen minutes as David Prutton shot from a distance. Beckford also tested him on the half-hour as the game did not reach any great heights and Darlington failed to get any shots on target and the only chance of the first half came two minutes before the interval when Alan White was forced to head over his own bar to thwart a Leeds raid. The second half showed some improvement as Jonathan Howson had a shot blocked and Rui Marques headed over from a corner, while Frazer Richardson twice reacted quickly to block efforts from the lively Adam Griffin. New signing Robert Snodgrass made his first appearance on fifty-seven minutes as he replaced Enoch Showumni while two minutes later Bradley Johnson came on in place of Fabian Delph. Ten minutes after coming on, Robert Snodgrass headed over from a corner and then as the game got into the last fifteen minutes Andy Robinson had a shot blocked and Jermaine Beckford had an effort saved by the keeper. Darlington should have taken the lead after eighty-one minutes, when Casper Ankergren failed to hold a cross but Alan White headed over from five yards and the game finished in a goalless draw. David Lucas, Jonathan Douglas, Lubomir Michalik, Scott Gardner, Ben Parker, Peter Sweeney, Robert Bayly and Alan Martin were all unused substitutes. The home side substitutes were goalkeeper, Nick Liversedge, defenders Lewis Hardman and Jonathan Hewitson midfielders Simon Todd, Ian Miller and Robinson and forwards Curtis Main and Michael Smith.