Leeds marked their maiden appearance in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy with a hard-earned win over Darlington. Paul Huntington's second-half header was enough to send Dennis Wise's side into the last eight of the Northern Section after they received a bye in the first round.
They were worked hard by Dave Penney's League Two outfit, but with debutant goalkeeper David Lucas in fine form for the visitors, they managed to hold out in front of an excellent crowd of 7891.
"It was important that we kept our unbeaten run going," said Leeds assistant manager Gus Poyet afterwards. Queuing up to meet Leeds in the quarter-finals are Bury, Carlisle, Grimsby, Hartlepool, Morecambe and Stockport, with Doncaster and Oldham still to meet.
Hartlepool were the biggest scorers of the round, plundering five past Lincoln at Sincil Bank with forward Joel Porter notching a hat-trick."I don't think five goals flattered us at all," said Pools boss Danny Wilson after the 5-2 victory. "We had lots of chances and it was a fantastic attacking display."
Elsewhere, Danny Graham's ninth goal of the season extended John Ward's dream start to life as Carlisle manager as the Cumbrians swept past Chester 4-2, while a second-half brace from Glynn Hurst helped Bury to a second win over Rochdale within the space of four days as they ran out 3-1 victors at Spotland.
Stockport manager Jim Gannon hailed a "magnificent game of football" after Paul Tierney's late winner helped his side defeat Macclesfield, while there were wins on penalties for Morecambe over Port Vale and Grimsby over Rotherham.
In the Southern Section, last year's runners-up Bristol Rovers were sent packing by Bournemouth, who continued their recent revival with a 1-0 win thanks to Jo Kuffour's winner.
"It's all the more disappointing to be out of the competition because we have such great memories of it from last season," admitted manager Paul Trollope.
Chris Dickson was the hero for managerless Gillingham as his hat-trick helped them see off Luton 4-3 at Priestfield.
Paul Furlong's seventh and eighth goals of the season had helped give Luton a 3-1 lead but Dickson's treble and a late Mark Bentley winner sent the home side through.
"The second goal gave us belief and the force was with us," said caretaker boss Iffy Onuora. "After the third goal I was half looking at penalty takers but we got the fourth and that left everyone in a really good frame of mind."
Swansea's excellent recent run continued too, as they brushed Wycombe aside 2-0 with in-form winger Paul Anderson again on target, while Leyton Orient's alarming slump showed no sign of ending as they were humbled 1-0 at home to Dagenham with Ben Strevens pinching the winner.
Elsewhere, Cheltenham stung Swindon with a surprise 3-1 win at the County Ground and there were wins for MK Dons over Peterborough and Brighton on penalties against Barnet, while Yeovil also needed spot-kicks to see off Hereford at Edgar Street.
©2009 Johnstone's Paint Site by Cogent Elliott
