AS new beginnings go, John Batchelor could not have asked for much more.

A winning start was all important to enhance the new feel-good factor surrounding the club while keeping the fear of relegation firmly under wraps.

The manner in which City achieved their first win in four attempts was no doubt as pleasing for City's new chairman too.

Awarded the man of the match accolade by the game's sponsors was a nice touch and set the seal on the day.

But in truth it was difficult to pick a genuine star player.

City did what they had to do without ever finding top gear against a distinctly ordinary and toothless Darlington side who rarely came close to spoiling the party.

It was comfortable, satisfying and deserved, but no more than that.

Of course, a 5-0 hammering of the Quakers would have been welcomed with open arms but from there the only way is down and at least City have left room for improvement and kept expectation levels in check.

Batchelor might not admit it, but he will no doubt be grateful for that. He may be the saviour but he won't want to be proclaimed the Messiah just yet.

City were by far the more incisive team of the first half and on a bog of a pitch their efforts to play slick football at a high tempo was laudable.

Turning the visiting defence time and again, City were able to pepper the Darlington box with a series of crosses but, as has often been the case this season, their final ball too often proved their undoing.

Skipper Chris Brass, Alex Mathie and Graham Potter all squandered half-chances but it was perhaps telling that goalkeeper Keith Finch had only one genuine save to make, tipping over Michael Proctor's fizzing drive from the edge of the area.

At the opposite end of the park, City's defence remained unfussy and resolute to leave Alan Fettis little more than a spectator.

The only time the City shot-stopper was called to arms came in first-half stoppage time when he palmed away a Neil Wainwright cross-cum-shot.

Having perhaps been guilty of over elaboration at the crucial moments, it was perhaps fitting then that City's goals when they finally arrived were direct and uncomplicated in the extreme. Why use a blunt penknife to prise open a nut when one blow of a sledgehammer will do?

The second-half had yet to find its feet when Potter's corner was delivered from the left. The Darlington defence stood and watched, leaving Mike Basham free to no more than nod the ball home from eight yards.

The goal at last injected some enthusiasm into the Quakers' ranks. Fettis had to be alert to paw away a Wainwright corner that threatened to sail in at the far post before substitute Paul Campbell pulled his shot wide from a good position.

But it was all rather half-hearted and any suggestion of Darlington snatching something from the game was firmly dispelled on 67 minutes.

Mathie, who still looks short of match practice but at least suggested he's getting there, threatened to run clear only to be hauled down by Gary Pearson some 25 yards from goal.

Potter lined himself up to shoot but the lively Proctor stepped forward to send a right-foot rocket that flashed past the Darlington wall and beyond the helpless Finch.

Mark Ford and Mark Sheeran both blazed efforts high and mighty for Darlington before Paul Heckingbottom squandered their best chance of a consolation in the dying embers when he headed just wide from Wainwright's cross.

But they were no more than the briefest of flirtations with the City goal. In any case, by then victory was all but assured.

City had already taken their foot off the accelerator and had it not been for the state of the pitch, they could have cruised over the finish line in their slippers.

York City:

Scorers: Basham 55m, Proctor 67m

Fettis 6, Parkin 7, Hocking 7, Hobson 6 (Basham 37m, 8), Brass 7, Bullock 6, Wood 7, Mathie 6, Nogan 6 (Brackstone 87m), Proctor 68m (Emmerson 6)

Subs, not used: Howarth, O'Kane

Bookings: None

Sent-off: None

Darlington: Finch, Heckingbottom, Liddle, Brightwell (Campbell 60m), Clark, Ford, Pearson, Atkinson (Sheeran 19m), Brumwell (McGurk 53m), Maddison, Wainwright

Subs, not used: Rundle, Naylor

Bookings: Heckingbottom 33m(foul)

Sent-off: None

Updated: 10:23 Monday, March 18, 2002