Quakers hope to stretch unbeaten away run to six games
By Ray Simpson
On Wednesday night Darlington travel to bottom club Bradford Park Avenue looking to keep our good ru...
On Wednesday night Darlington travel to bottom club Bradford Park Avenue looking to keep our good run away from home going.
Despite being held to a 1-1 draw at Nuneaton Town on Saturday, we are still unbeaten away from home with three wins and two draws so far on the road.
The draw saw us slip one place in the league table to fifth, following Kidderminster’s 1-0 victory over Salford City.
Bradford PA are currently bottom of the league table having not won any of their ten fixtures. Their latest defeat was a 3-0 loss against Worcester at the weekend – but Darlington assistant manager Brian Atkinson says that Bradford have been unlucky so far this season.
“It will definitely be a hard game, and we’ll have to be up for it, that’s for sure.
There are no easy games in this league, it’s early days in the season and the league table is starting to shape up. You just need to look at Nuneaton whom we played last Saturday, they were really really good. I’ve actually watched Bradford Park Avenue this season and they were decent. I think they’ve just been a little bit unlucky in games from what I’ve seen and heard.”
Bradford PA have been part of the National North division since they won promotion to this level via the play-offs in 2012. Last season they finished the campaign in 14th place four points above the final relegation place. The original Bradford PA played in the Football League until 1970, the club as they are now was reformed in 1987.
Quakers have one or two injury knocks at the moment, with Kevin Burgess, Phil Turnbull, Josh Gillies and Gary Brown all having treatment recently, and Atky said; “The strength in depth in the squad has been tested. We’ve had ten games in six weeks and the lads have to go to work as well. So it’s been difficult, but they will be up for this game. We’re going to have to use all the squad.”
Quakers have six wins and two draws from their first ten league games – tonight’s game is the quarter mark of the season and we’re still in September – and Atky said; “We’ve started well, got 20 points from the first ten games and we're quite happy with that. We know what the league is about, it’s a difficult league, we’ve got to keep going and try to improve.”
Bradford have yet to win a league game this season. They drew their first three matches, but have lost their last seven.
Their most recent results have been:
September 10th Worcester City (home) lost 0-3
September 6th Boston (away) lost 0-1
September 3rd Brackley (away) lost 0-2
August 29th AFC Fylde (home) lost 1-4
August 27th Tamworth (away) lost 1-5
Kick off on Wednesday night is 7:45pm , updates on the game will be made from the club's Facebook, Twitter, Mobile App and Website. Live Commentary will be broadcast from Darlo Fans Radio at 7:35pm