Darlington manager Dave Penney was full of praise for his defence as they kept their second clean sheet of the season at the weekend. Quakers made it six points from a possible six with a 3-0 win at Accrington. Penney though believes Quakers can improve further.

The visitors got themselves in the lead through a well headed goal by Tommy Wright in the first half and could easily have doubled the advantage before the interval. Instead Quakers had to wait until early in the second period to get themselves further in front. Following the goal, Pawel Abbott's first for the club, Quakers had to soak up the pressure before getting a late third.

"It is not an easy place to come to and they played well in midweek against Leicester City. They also beat Wycombe so we expected a tough game and it was but I thought we defended brilliantly," said Penney. "The two central defenders and the keeper headed everything out and caught everything that came in the box. We know we are liable to score goals if we keep a clean sheet and that's the way it was."

The opening goal arrived on twenty-five minutes with Rob Purdie again turning provider for Wright. "The first goal was the first bit of football we played really. It was a great ball in from Purdie for Tommy (Wright) to score. We could have had a couple more after that. Tommy has clipped a free one over the bar and Pawel (Abbott) had a good shot saved. To come here and win 3-0 is an excellent result," said Penney.

Accrington enjoyed more of the possession in the second half but were unable to break down a solid Darlington rear guard which consisted of Alan White, Stephen Foster, Tim Ryan and Purdie playing once again at right back. Whilst Penney was pleased with the performance he feels his side can play better.

"That's what is going to happen when you are 1-0 up away from home. You fully expect the home team to come at you and they did. What pleased me was all the crosses that they put in were from deep and all the shots they had were from twenty-five to thirty yards out. We can play better than that. We certainly played better at Barnsley. The pleasing thing is that we have kept another clean sheet and scored three goals away from home," he said.