BARRY Conlon and his Darlington team-mates must have thought Christmas had come three weeks early to Feethams on Saturday.

While it was the cherleaders who were dressed in the Santa Claus outfits, it was the Minstermen who were handing out the presents in the form of easy goals.

All three of the Darlington strikes came from defensives gaffes, while a failure to create the clear-cut chances in the final third and a woefully missed Chris Brass penalty added the festive wrapping paper to the three points for the hosts.

Conlon, who signed from City in the close season, had the look of a child who had just received the full Harry Potter gift set as he grabbed two goals against his former team-mates.

And Conlon produced a magical display to make sure each mistake was cruelly punished.

But it was Ian Clark who was the first on the score-sheet after 22 minutes when unmarked he bundled home Brian Atkinson's free-kick after a needless foul by Richard Cooper on Richard Hodgson. Skipper Brass did attempt to clear the ball, but he only succeeded in firing it into the roof of the net.

A second hammer blow came two minutes later when Conlon, who faced a barrage of insults from the travelling City faithful, struck for the first of his brace.

The fiery striker, who was booked for an early collision with Darren Edmondson, first sent a warning shot across the bows with a powerful drive from 12 yards out which Alan Fettis tipped on to the bar.

He was not as lenient 40 seconds later though when Hodgson caught Edmondson dwelling on the ball and sent a pin-point ball in the box. Conlon controlled and then unleashed an unstoppable shot into the net.

The scoreline was hard on City who had created some good chances and looked quite comfortable during the opening exchanges.

On-loan Sunderland striker Michael Proctor was unlucky not to have opened the scoring after nine minutes, but he somehow managed to drag his shot wide, with Cooper unable to connect with it at the far post.

It was to be an unrewarding afternoon for Proctor, who without his injured strike partner Lee Nogan (calf), had worked tirelessly up-front with emergency forward Lee Bullock.

After Darlington had gone 2-0 ahead, Proctor continued to push forward in search of a way back, but time and again the ball just wouldn't fall right for him, with Gary Caldwell and David Brightwell both making timely interventions.

City best chance came when Paul Heckingbottom fell flat on his face as he tried to control the ball. The hard-working Bullock sensed his opportunity and pounced, racing into the box and past goalkeeper Andrew Collett, only for the Quakers' number one to haul him down.

Collett, as the last man, could count himself a little fortunate only a yellow card was shown and even more so when Brass stepped up and scuffed the ball wide.

Brass, who had put away a spot-kick in the penalties' victory over Colchester on Tuesday, could only hang his head as the ball bounced back of an advertising hoarding to the left of the goal.

The goal would have given the Minstermen a much-needed boost heading into the break, but it was not to be.

In fact, it was York who started the livelier of the two teams after half-time, but despite having the lion's share of the possession they failed to punish their hosts and struggled to create the clear-cut chances they needed to get back into the game.

As the confidence drained from the City players, Darlington picked themselves up and pushed forward.

Neil Wainwright, after a quiet first 45 minutes, came in the game - first shooting wide after Conlon's lay-off and then swinging the ball in for the former City striker to head goalwards into Fettis' hands.

With Conlon chasing everything the danger of a third goal was always there and it came after 77 minutes. The City defence was caught at sixes and sevens again and when Edmondson failed to get his head to a through ball, Conlon bore down on Fettis before sending the ball nestling into the bottom corner if the net.

Former Leeds midfielder Mark Ford, Conlon and youngster Daniel Chillingworth could all have made it 4-0, but Fettis rose to the challenge of denying all three.

The City cause was further hampered by an injury to Cooper, who took a bang on the hip and was replaced by third-year youth schoolarship midfielder Ben Rhodes for his debut.

But the Quakers, seemingly sitting back with the game almost over, were caught out with three minutes to go as both Bullock and Brass battled hard to rob Caldwell.

The ball bobbled to Proctor, who turned the Darlo defence before letting fly from the edge of the area with a perfectly placed shot past Collett.

The goal brought some cheer to the travelling City fans, but if the Minstermen continue to give away goals at will it be their opponents who will be enjoying the upcoming festive period.

Fact file:

Darlington:

Scorer: Clark 22m, Conlon 24, 77

Darlington: Collett, Heckingbottom, Clark, Ford, Atkinson, Brightwell, Conlon, Hodgson, Betts, Wainwright (Chillingworth 78), Caldwell.

Subs not used: Brumwell, Campbell, Finch, Rundle.

Bookings: Conlon 8, Collett 43, Caldwell 52.

Sent-off: None

York City:

Scorer: Proctor 87m.

York City: Fettis 7, Edmondson 4, Smith 6, Hocking 6 (Basham 82), Maley 5, Cooper 5 (Rhodes 84), Brass 4, Richardson 5, Potter 6, Bullock 7, Proctor 6.

Subs, not used: Howarth, Mathie, O'Kane.

Bookings: Edmondson 26.

Sent-off: None

Attendance: 4,014

Ref: Graham Salisbury (Preston)