Here are the programme notes of CEO David Johnston for the Curzon Ashton programme on Tuesday night.

Good evening, everybody and welcome to the game.

We’re looking for our third home win in a week this evening, but we know that we will have a tough game against Curzon Ashton, who have had some good results here in recent years.

Last Saturday’s game against Spennymoor was a contrast to the 5-2 home win over Peterborough Sports, in that there wasn’t much flowing football in the game, and so we had to grind out the victory. Cedric took his goal really well, he showed some great skill to beat the keeper from the edge of the box.

That result put us into the play off places, but we mustn’t rest on our laurels – not that I think Steve would allow the players to do that anyway – we must keep working as hard as we have been in recent matches. We’re not even halfway through the season yet – there’s nothing won in November.

Together with the Rugby Club, we’ve made some progress on the floodlights. As you’re aware, one of the lights has gone off in recent matches, and so we had to move quickly and ensure that there wouldn’t be a repeat. The faults were caused by an old contactor in the base of the floodlights.

A contactor is a heavy duty electrical switch that controls the power to each floodlight tower. Although the floodlights were upgraded 18 months ago the contactors themselves are much older. Over time the internal switching components wear, especially in outdoor cabinets. Following inspection by Lytestream Electrical Engineers it became clear that several of the contactors had reached the end of their service life.

As a precaution Darlington Rugby Club has funded the full replacement of all remaining tower contactors. Every tower was tested following the repairs and all lights are operating safely.

I’d like to thank everyone involved for sorting the issue, especially Lytestream Electrical Engineers.

Ourselves and the Rugby Club are committed to maintaining the ground to at least the required standard, and to give all our visitors an enjoyable experience.

Our next home game is just before Christmas against King’s Lynn, so in the meantime if you’re looking for Christmas presents, why not check on Quaker Retail? There are plenty of ideas on our website and in our shops.

I would also urge everyone to come along to our Christmas and New Year games against King’s Lynn, South Shields and Macclesfield. They’re going to be three great games, especially with us chasing a play off place.

Finally, I would like to welcome everyone from Curzon Ashton tonight, and wish them a safe journey home.