Bradford City 7

Darlington 2

This runaway victory was the perfect tonic for City after the bitter disappointment of their Premiership home defeat by Southampton.

It has become a cliche for managers to say they hope their teams will bounce back after a defeat, but this is precisely what City did against a shell-shocked Darling-ton side.

Leading by only a single goal from a hard fought first leg, which City won in the face of a strong and competitive challenge by their Third Division opponents, the under-strength Bantams could have faced a tricky return match at Valley Parade.

For Darlington had proved what they are capable of by beating First Division Nottingham Forest over two legs in the first round.

However, the match and the tie were over in just nine minutes as City romped into a 3-0 lead to put themselves 4-0 in front on aggregate.

City suffered more injuries in the Southampton defeat and had midfield player Lee Sharpe out of action with a foot injury and defender David Wetherall missing with groin trouble.

They also rested skipper Stuart McCall, goalkeeper Matt Clarke and Romanian international midfield player Dan Petrescu as manager Chris Hutchings made five changes from Saturday's team to give young players such as Gareth Grant and Mark Bower some experience of first team football.

Darlington also rested several key players in Neil Aspin, Craig Liddle, Paul Heckinbottom and Lee Nogan with manager Gary Bennett insisting that the club must concentrate on getting out of the Third Division.

It was a strange decision considering that the team had a great chance of causing another cup upset after only one goal separated the teams from the first leg.

We are used to seeing top clubs such as Manchester United and Arsenal playing weakened teams in the Worthington Cup but not lower-division sides such as Darlingon against Premiership opponents.

It was all irrelevant, of course, because goals by Gareth Whalley, who also struck the vital blow in the first leg, Dean Windass and Benito Carbone quickly put the tie out of their reach as the visitors struggled to cope with City's free-flowing attacking football.

This lively approach was just the response that Hutchings wanted after the Southampton defeat and he was pleased that City did not sit back on their lead but went on to score seven goals in all.

Carbone, who missed most of the chances against Southamp-ton, in particular seemed determined to wipe out the misery of that defeat with a lively performance.

Darlington had no answer to his pace and skill as he scored two first half goals, taking advantage of sloppy defending, and he ought to have completed his hat-trick but goalkeeper Andrew Collett dived the right way to save his 76th minute spot kick. The Italian striker also laid on two of the other goals.

Windass also scored two, including the best goal of the night - a 25-yard drive for City's fifth goal two minutes after half time - and also earned the penalty when Collett brought him down.

Darlington pulled two goals back in a five-minute spell midway through the second half to the delight of their 1,000-strong following in a disappointing crowd of 4,751.

However City scored two more through Gareth Grant, his first goal in senior football, and Gunnar Halle, a last-minute header from Carbone's free kick - his first goal for the club.