NINE man Kendal Town had a Bank Holiday Monday to forget as they were hit for seven with no reply away at Darlington.

The odds were stacked against Kendal after just nine minutes when referee John Matthews gave the marching orders to striker Mark Jackson for dissent moments before Rory Winters was dismissed after being judged of hauling down Liam Hatch.

The Mintcakes' defence held firm until minutes before the break but once the first goal hit the back of the net it was a case of how many the Quakers would win by at Heritage Park.

Kendal boss Dave Foster made just one change to the team that drew 1-1 at home to Bamber Bridge with regular stopper Danny MacDonald back between the sticks.

And his game plan was thrown into disarray when Jackson was dismissed after seven minutes in a decision that was greeted with bemusement by the 1,186 crowd - including a good away support from Kendal.

Jackson had received treatment for a bloody nose near the Darlington corner flag and after treatment appeared near the halfway line on the same side of the pitch.

The referee asked the striker to go to the dugout on the far side of the field to have blood wiped off his hands and nose but the player refused, and in the verbal exchanges that followed, the referee sent him down the tunnel.

And things went from bad to worse for the away side just three minutes later when Winters was sent off after bringing down Darlington striker Hatch as he beared down on goal.

Skipper Warren Beattie moved into centre-back as Kendal deployed a 4-3-1 formation.

Even with nine men they nearly broke the deadlock when Rob Wilson curled a free kick from 25 yards against the crossbar with Peter Jameson well beaten.

Hatch went close with two headers before he was successful with a third on 39 minutes when Adam Mitchell floated the ball in from the right for him to nip in front of his marker and nod firmly past MacDonald from six yards.

Four minutes later and it was all but game over when David Dowson was hauled down by Ricky Mercer in the penalty box. Terry Galbraith tucked the resulting spot kick into the bottom left-hand corner to give Darlington a 2-0 half-time lead.

And it was 3-0 just a couple of minutes after the resumption when David Dowson cut in from the left and hit a low right foot shot past MacDonald’s outstretched hand.

The man with the whistle controversially gave the Quakers another penalty on 56 minutes when a powerful shot from Stephen Thompson looped high in the air and, in the scramble that followed, Hatch was judged to have been pushed in the back by a defender. Galbraith coolly converted again to make it 4-0.

With Kendal legs tiring and Darlington stretching the game, the home side extended the lead when substitute Graeme Armstrong had a shot blocked ten yards out only for his second effort to be deflected and loop over the stranded MacDonald.

MacDonald pulled off a flying save from sub Nathan Fisher and Armstrong glanced a header wide before the latter laid off a left wing Galbraith cross for Nathan Fisher to skip inside his marker and drive into the bottom corner on 81 minutes.

Another substitute, Leon Scott, completed the rout with four minutes left on the clock as he  coolly picked his spot after Thompson had left another cross from Galbraith.