Darlington had the first foray on goal when defender Tim Ryan stole into the Aldershot penalty area in the 7th minute. Ryan saw his effort deflected away from goal.
Shots striker Jake Robinson thought that he had opened the scoring in the 18th minute, but a raised flag for offside ruled the 'goal' out.
Two minutes later Robinson's shot was deflected by Darlington captain Steve Foster and keeper Andy Oakes had to dive full length to fingertip the ball around his post.
Aldershot went close again and Oakes was called into action when turning a 20-yard free-kick from Andy Sandell over the cross bar after 27 minutes.
The visitors created the best move of the game ten minutes later when Scott Davies burst through the middle and set up Kirk Hudson who was eight yards out. Hudson blazed the ball over the bar under pressure from the home defenders.
Against the run of play and seconds before the interval the Shots defence fell asleep when leaving Darlington striker Curtis Main unmarked inside the area.
Teenager Main coolly side-footed the ball into the far corner of the goal from eight yards past Mikhael Jaimez-Ruiz.
In the 48th minute Darlington midfielder Jason Kennedy fired straight at the keeper as the hosts looked to increase their advantage.
The Quakers went close again in the 63rd minute when Danny Carlton fired narrowly wide. Carlton found the back of the net though in the 72nd minute when he beat Jaimez-Ruiz from close range.
Carlton was guilty of the miss of the match when he hooked the ball wide after being presented with an open goal following a mix up with Jaimez-Ruiz and Anthony Charles in the 79th minute.