December promises to be an exciting month for Darlington FC, as The Quakers gear up for critical fixtures, including a high-stakes Isuzu FA Trophy clash against local rivals York City and pivotal Vanarama National League North matchups. From a Boxing Day rivalry showdown to new encounters and familiar faces, Darlo will look to build momentum across the month.

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ISUZU FA TROPHY 3rd ROUND: York City v Darlington

Dec 7th, 3:00 PM, LNER Community Stadium

Darlington will look to progress further in the FA Trophy when the Quakers visit local rivals York City at the LNER Community Stadium.

York, who are one league higher than Darlington in the National League, have had a strong season and are top of the table.

York have won 44 points out of a possible 63 with 13 wins, five draws and only three losses. At home, York are very hard to beat with nine wins and one draw in 11 games.

Defensively York have been solid this season with only 19 goals conceded in their league campaign which is the fourth best in the National League. They have also been deadly going forward with 43 goals scored which is the most in the league so Quakers will need to be at the top of their game.

The Quakers have visited The LNER Community Stadium once before, in March 2022, which was a 3-1 loss when loanee Cameron Thompson scored the Quakers' only goal that night.

However, the club does have some good recent memories against the Minstermen. On Boxing Day 2018 at Blackwell Meadows Quakers demolished York 5-1 when Andrew Nelson -- who was on loan to the club from Sunderland -- scored two penalties. Harvey Saunders, Jordan Nicholson and Liam Hughes rounded off a perfect Darlo performance.

York travelled to Blackwell Meadows in pre-season when the two teams played out an exciting 3-3 draw in which Cedric Main got a double against his former club as well as a Hatfield free kick.

As previously mentioned, Main will be returning to his former club, but the Quakers have a whole host of players returning to York such as Tom Platt who came through the ranks there. Also, with the return of manager Steve Watson to York, players whom he managed at York include players Kallum Griffiths, Pete Jameson and Scott Barrow will also be eager to impress against their former club.Will Hatfield also had a spell at York earlier in his career.

A key man for York will be summer signing Ollie Pearce who has scored 14 goals already this season. However, this wouldn’t have come as a surprise to Worthing fans where he bagged 43 goals and got 15 assists in the National League South last season which earned him a move to a higher division.

York only entered the FA Trophy this round so this will be their first game in the competition this season whereas Darlington have a game under their belt in the Trophy when they beat Buxton at home 1-0 with Main finding the back of the net in the 90^th minute.

The Buxton game from Darlington was a very good performance and win against a strong professional Buxton team who currently find themselves in the playoff positions.

November Form Guide

York

• 30th November York 6-2 Maidenhead (H)
  Scorers: Pearce x2, Sinclair, Nathaniel-George, Crookes, Thomas
• 26th November Altrincham 3-0 York (A)
• 23rd November York 4-0 Yeovil (H)
  Scorers: Pearce x3, Sinclair
• 16th November Forest Green 2-0 York (A)
• 9th November York 5-3 Hartlepool (H)
  Scorers: Pearce x2, Hunt, Nathaniel-George, Akinyemi

• 2nd November FA Cup first round Wycombe 3-2 York (A)
  Scorers: Sinclair, Felix

Darlington

• 30th November Radcliffe 1-4 Darlington (A)
  Scorers: Hatfield, Kelly, Griffiths, Main
• 26th November Darlington 0-0 Scunthorpe (H)
• 19th November Darlington 1-0 Buxton (H)
• Scorer: Main
• 12th November Darlington 2-2 Peterborough Sports (H)
  Scorers: Barrow, Lees
• 9th November Brackley Town 2-1 Darlington (A)
  Scorer: Main
• 5th November Darlington 1-0 Chester (H)
  Scorer: Main
• 2nd November Farsley Celtic 0-2 Darlington (A)
  Scorers: Al-Shabeeb, Forbes

Matchday 20

Darlington vs Hereford FC

Tuesday 10^th December 7:45 pm

The Quakers face Hereford in a rearranged game which was previously meant to be played on Saturday 23^rd November.

This is the first meeting of the season between the two clubs. When the teams last met in  January this year the Quakers came out 2-0 winners with goals from Ben Liddle and then debutant Matty Cornish.

The Bulls currently sit in 8^th after a strong end to the month with two home wins against Marine and Rushall Olympic in which they scored seven and conceded zero.

They recently crashed out of the FA Trophy with a 1-0 loss to Brentwood Town of the Isthmian League- North Division.

Hereford have four wins away from home showing that they are a threat when they’re not playing at Edgar Street.

Their top scorer this season is striker Andy Williams who has found the back of the net five times. Williams is a 38-year-old striker with vast experience in the Football League for teams such as Doncaster Rovers and most recently Walsall. From the start of the 23/24 season the striker has bagged 16 goals in 39 games.

Another key man for Hereford is attacking midfielder Alex Babos who has three goals and been the heartbeat of this Hereford team. He is a player whom the Quakers' midfield will need to keep an eye on.

Darlington have started to find their form with a good November, with only one loss in the month against playoff hopefuls Brackley Town. With key players such as Cedric Main getting back into full fitness and Ben Hedley and Tom Platt recently back in the matchday squads, Darlington will be looking forward to the month and aiming to get some more points on the board.

November form guide

• 30th November Hereford 3-0 Rushall (H)
  Scorers: Mitchell, White, Rose
• 16th November FA Trophy Hereford 0 Brentwood 1 (H)
• 9th November Hereford 4-0 Marine (H)
  Scorers: Bartley, Cowley, Williams, Derricott
• 5th November Hereford 0-2 Oxford City (H)
• 2nd November Chester 3-0 Hereford (A)

Forthcoming Fixtures:

      .  7th December Needham Market (A)

Matchday 21

Darlington v Oxford City

Dec 14th, 3:00 PM, Blackwell Meadows

Darlington are looking to beat Oxford City for the first time when The Hoops visit Blackwell Meadows.

The first fixture was a 2-2 draw when Darlington were leading 2-1 at half time thanks to goals from Elliot Forbes and Cedric Main, but a goal from Jalen Jones in the second half for the home team meant Darlo returned with just the one point.

Since the game, Oxford have won five in 18 league matches, and they find themselves 20th in the league with 21 points at the time of writing. Away from home is where Oxford have got most of their points which will be a concern for Darlo.

In their ten away games, Oxford have three wins and two draws and five losses, which, compared to their home form of two wins and four draws and four losses, shows that they are a threat when playing away.

Oxford are in the 5th in the most goals scored this season with 30 goals, with players like Zac McEachran, Corie Andrews, Josh Parker and Jalen Jones being a big part of their attacking quality. Defensively, they have struggled, conceding 37 goals, which is tied for the most in the league with South Shields, so Darlo will look to exploit the shaky defence.

A familiar face for Darlington fans will be Cardo Siddik, who, after spending last season with Darlo, has since left and joined Oxford City. This will be his first game back at Blackwell Meadows since he left, and Darlo will look to spoil his return.

Darlington have been very strong defensively, with only 19 goals conceded, which is tied for 6th best defence in the league with Chester. Scoring goals has been the weak point for Darlo, with 22 goals scored, which is the 7th lowest in the league, so that will be Darlo’s biggest concern.

November League and Trophy Form Guide

• 29th November Oxford City 4–1 Farsley Celtic (H)
  Scorers: Andrews, Ashby, Scott, McEachran
• 26th November Chester 3-1 Oxford City (A)
  Scorer: Jones
• 23rd November Buxton 2-1 Oxford City (A)
  Scorer: Carbon
• 19th November Oxford City 1-2 Alfreton (H)
  Scorer: Parker
• 16th November Trophy Oxford City 5 - 0 Sporting Khalsa (H)
• Scorers: Parker, Croker, McEachran, Carbon, Scott
• 9th November Oxford City 1-1 Scarborough (H)
  Scorer: McEachran
• 5th November Hereford 0-2 Oxford City (A)
  Scorers: Ashby, Parker
• 2nd November Oxford City 1-1 Southport (H)

• Scorer: Roddy

Forthcoming fixtures

• 7th December Hadley FA Trophy (H)

Matchday 22

Needham Market v Darlington

Dec 21st, 3:00 PM, Ecologic Stadium Bloomfields

Darlington will be looking to win the first ever game between these two sides when they travel away to Needham Market in Suffolk.

Needham Market are in their first season in the National League North after gaining promotion last season from the Southern League Premier Division Central.

The Marketmen find themselves 23rd in the league with only four wins so far this season.

At home, they have struggled to make Bloomfields a fortress with only one win (against South Shields in October) and two draws in ten games at home so far this season.

Away from home, they’ve been able to shock a few teams by picking up three wins and two draws in 10 games.

Scoring goals has been an issue for Needham Market with only 14 goals scored, which is the second lowest in the league behind Marine. Their top scorers have been defenders Kyle Hammond and Kieran Morphew with two goals each.

New signing Reggie Lambe scored on his debut for the Marketmen against South Shields but has struggled to find the back of the net since.

With a player like Lambe who has the experience of Championship and the MLS, he could always grab a goal like he did in the National League South playoffs last season for Braintree Town.

Defensively, they have struggled with 34 goals conceded, which puts them at the sixth most in the league.

In November, Needham struggled with three draws and two losses with only one win in the league against Leamington.

November League and Trophy Form Guide

• 30th November Needham Market 1–1 Scarborough (H)
  Scorer: Allen
• 26th November Leamington 0-1 Needham Market (A)
  Scorer: Ingram

• 23rd November Marine 2-0 Needham Market (A)

• 16th November Trophy Alfreton 3-2 Needham Market (A)

• Scorers: Chambers, Ingram

• 9th November Needham Market 0-1 Chester (H)
• 5th November Rushall Olympic 1-1 Needham Market (A):
• Scorer: Mills

• 2nd November Needham Market 1-1 Spennymoor Town (H)
  Scorer: Carroll-Chambers

Forthcoming fixtures

• 7th December Hereford (H)
• 14th December Southport (A)

Matchday 23

Thursday 26th December 3:00 PM

Darlington vs Scarborough Athletic

On Boxing Day, the Quakers will be hoping for a late Christmas present when they host rivals Scarborough Athletic.

After this game, the first anniversary of Steve Watson and Terry Mitchell taking over as the management team will be upon us.

Darlington have lost three of the four league games since Scarborough gained promotion with a 1-0 loss at home last season and then a 2-0 defeat at the Flamingo Land Stadium in Josh Gowling’s last game in charge as manager.

In the season prior, the Quakers lost 3-2 at home conceding to a late Michael Coulson goal. However, in the reverse fixture on January 2nd, 2023, the Quakers battered Scarborough 5-2 with doubles from both Mark Beck and Jacob Hazel with a Jack Lambert wonder goal wrapping up a five-star performance from the Quakers.

Scarborough are winless in the league since the 26th October plus they have lost  two cup games, one in the FA Cup - a 1-0 loss to League 1 team Burton Albion - and the other in the FA Trophy when they suffered a 3-1 loss away to Northern Premier League side Stockton Town with former Darlo lad Michael Sweet getting a brace.

They currently sit 17th in the league and have some tough games against Brackley and Kings Lynn coming up before the Quakers.

A player of interest for Quakers fans will be Alex Purver who made 81 appearances for the Quakers across his two seasons at the club. During his time here, he found the net three times with his most notable goal being an equaliser in a 2-2 draw against Gloucester City in the 21/22 season. As Quakers' fans are aware, he likes to dictate the game by playing in a pivot role at the base of midfield and loves a strong tackle.

Boro’s top goalscorer this season is winger Dom Tear who has found the back of the net seven times in the league in 11 starts for the club. This includes in the opening game of the season when he put three past National League North newcomers Radcliffe.

November League and Trophy Form Guide

• 30th November Needham Market 1-1 Scarborough (A)
  Scorer: Smith (Og)
• 26th November Scarborough 0-0 Warrington (H)
• 16th November Trophy Stockton 3-1 Scarborough 1 (A)
• Scorer: Tear
• 9th November Oxford City 1-1 Scarborough (A)
  Scorer: Thornton
• 5th November Buxton 2-0 Scarborough (A)

Forthcoming fixtures

• 7th December King's Lynn (A)
• 10th December Brackley (H)
• 14th December Rushall (A)
• 17th December Hereford (A)
• 21st December Peterborough Sports (H)