Shots fire on opening day

First-half strikes from Marvin Morgan and Andy Sandell set Aldershot on the way to a comfortable 3-1 opening day victory over sorry Darlington.

Morgan latched onto Chris Blackburn's lofted through-ball after only four minutes, steadied himself and confidently slotted the ball past David Knight to give the Shots the lead.

Colin Todd's Darlington side - which featured seven debutants and only officially came out of administration on Friday - were unsurprisingly disjointed as the Shots dominated, with Sandell doubling the lead on the half-hour, driving home through a crowded box after Knight had dropped Ben Harding's seemingly harmless free-kick.

The Quakers' Jeff Smith saw a goal chalked off eight minutes before the break, but with Aldershot's John Halls running things in midfield, Louis Soares killed the game a minute after the break.

Scott Donnelly set Kirk Hudson racing down the left and when his low cross avoided everybody, Soares side-footed home from a tight angle.

Morgan and Halls threatened a fourth in a complete Shots performance, before sub David Dowson grabbed a consolation five minutes from time.