[6] In the 1957–58 season, the club equalled their previous best FA Cup run, reaching the last 16 by defeating Chelsea, Football League champions only three years earlier, in the fourth round.
[4] Their most successful season in the League Cup came in 1967–68: drawn away to Brian Clough's Derby County in the quarter-final, they took the lead, only to lose 5–4.
They made an immediate return as Conference champions, then won the Fourth Division title in 1990–91, but spent only one season in the third tier before relegation followed.
[9] Manchester United's decision to play in the FIFA Club World Championship rather than the FA Cup left a space in the third round which the organisers filled by drawing lots from among the 20 teams eliminated in the second.
[11] In 2011–12, another period of administration forced the termination of players' contracts before a last-minute injection of funding enabled Darlington to complete the season.
[16] They were unable to make it three in a row when, despite finishing in the playoff positions in 2016–17, ground grading issues prevented their participation,[17] since when they have remained in the National North.
The table details their achievements in senior first-team competitions from their first appearance in the FA Cup in 1885–86 to the end of the most recently completed season.