Darlington striker Stephen Thompson is all set to make his 250^th league start when Quakers go to Blyth on Saturday.

Thommo signed from Durham City in September 2012 in the Northern League season, and has established himself as a firm crowd favourite with some fantastic displays and has scored 89 goals.

Back in the squad on Saturday is defender Liam Hughes, who has had a leave of absence for the last four weeks.

And also included in the squad is striker Wilson Kneeshaw, who has just been signed for the second time, and defender Sam Muggleton who has just arrived on loan from Chesterfield.

We travel north looking to pick up our first away win since October.

Under Alun Armstrong’s management, Blyth sit in 11^th place three points off the final playoff spot and seven better off than ourselves. The side struggled at the start of the season, however, a long unbeaten run which only ended recently at home to Hereford has seen them move into playoff contention.

We met early on this season at Blackwell Meadows, a game which despite dominating we were only able to take a 1-1 draw from the game thanks to Reece Styche’s goal.

While we were without a game last weekend, Blyth travelled to National Premier side Leyton Orient in the last 16 of the FA Trophy, but they fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Our two recent trips to Croft Park have seen us win 1-0 thanks to a fantastic Lee Gaskell strike and last season’s 3-1 defeat, Tommy Wright’s first game in charge.

Coverage of Saturday's game will be on the official website, Twitter and Darlo Fans Radio.

Stats pack

Darlington

League position:  18th

Away form:    played 14, won 2, drawn 8, lost 4, goals for 23, goals 30, points 14 out of 32

Team News:  Liam Hughes returns to the Darlington squad after a month’s absence. Joe Wheatley has recovered from illness.

Leading scorer:   Jordan Nicholson 9, Harvey Saunders 7, Andrew Nelson 6

Position in form table of last six matches: 11th 

Last six matches

January 26^th Curzon Ashton 1 Darlington 1 (Elliott)

Team: Maddison, Trotman, Galbraith, Wheatley (sub Kokolo 66), Ainge, Smith, Elliott, Palmer, Saunders, Thompson, Nicholson (sub Henshall 66). Subs: Glover, J Burn, Morrison,

January 19^th Spennymoor (home) lost 1-2 Thompson pen

January 12^th Alfreton (away) drew 0-0

January 5^th Kidderminster (home) won 3-0 Thompson, Nicholson, Smith

January 1^st York City (away) lost 0-4

December 29^th Ashton United (home) won 2-1 Nelson

Blyth

League position :  11th

Home form: Played 14, won 7, drawn 2, lost 5, goals for 28, goals against 22, points 23 out of 39

Position in form table of last six league matches:    12th

Last six matches

February 2^nd:  Leyton Orient Trophy (away) lost 0-1

January 26^th: Hereford (home) lost 2-3 Green, Fewster

January 19^th : Bradford PA (away) drew 1-1 Reid

January 12^th Boreham Wood (home) Trophy won 1-0 Maguire

January 5^th Alfreton (home) drew 1-1 Dale

January 1^st Spennymoor (away) drew 2-2  Cunningham, Reid

Last time we met:

August 15th 2018

Darlington 1 (Styche) Blyth 1 (Maguire)

Darlington: Maddison, Trotman, Collins, Burn, Galbraith, Henshall (sub Syers 75), Wheatley, Elliott, Thompson; Styche, Ainge

Subs: O’Hanlon, Nicholson, Hughes, Saunders 

Blyth: Jameson, Nicholson, Watson, Green, Buddle, Cunningham, Rivers (sub Wrightson 46), Reid, Maguire (sub Ardelean 82), Holmes (sub Horner 73), Oliver

Subs: Skirpan, Butler