We host in-form Brackley on Wednesday night following our draw against Southport on Saturday.

The weekend’s 0-0 with Southport saw us stay in 16th place in the table, as we moved ahead of Leamington but were overtaken by Alfreton.

Meanwhile Brackley beat Curzon Ashton 2-0 to make it seven wins from eight in all competition for them – they are also going well in the FA Trophy and have a quarter final tie with Leyton Orient on Saturday.  

The victory moved them up to fifth and helped strengthen their claim for a playoff place again this season having reached the final last year.

After a poor start to the season they have climbed the table in recent months and have only lost once so far in 2019.

Our meeting earlier this season saw us win 4-2 with Reeve Styche grabbing a first half hat-trick in August. 

It is the second of three home games in a row for us with league leaders Chorley due to visit on 2nd March.

Darlington assistant manager Alan White said; “All of the games are tough in this league, but if we are on form, then we can beat them like we did earlier in the season.

“Brackley are better and stronger as a team since we played them, but we’ve improved as a team as well. If we put on a performance, then we can win.”

Darlington keeper Jonny Maddison is hoping to maintain his impressive record of four clean sheets in the last six matches.

“Things have been very positive from a defensive point of view in recent weeks,” he said.

“We’ve been a lot more solid since we played York. Look at last Saturday against Southport, three or four months ago we would have lost that sort of game, we stood up to them well.

“We have gone back to basics, adopted a no-nonsense approach, and the lads have just put their foot through the ball and got it upfield. We’re not putting ourselves under unnecessary pressure.

“Maybe we caught them on an off day when we beat them 4-2 there at the start of the season, so they’ll be coming up here determined to put that right – we’ll have to be ready for them.”

Stats pack

Darlington

League position:   16th

Home form:    Played 15, won 5, drawn 4, lost 6, goals for 20 against 16, points 19 (out of 36)

Team News:  Left wing back Sam Muggleton is ruled out with a serious leg injury, and central defender Terry Galbraith misses the game because of concussion.

Joe Wheatley and Alex Henshall have both fully recovered from illness, while Ben O’Hanlon is now fully fit.

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

Position in form table of last six matches:  9^th won 2, drawn 3, lost 1, goals for 12, against 10

Last six matches

February 16^th Southport (home) drew 0-0

Maddison, Smith, Hughes, Galbraith (sub Saunders 56); Trotman, Muggleton (sub O’Hanlon 46), Elliott, Palmer; Thompson, Nicholson (sub Kneeshaw 75); Ainge

Subs not used:  Wheatley, Hall.

February 9th Blyth (away) won 1-0 Thompson pen

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

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

Brackley

League position : 5th

Away form: played 14, won 4, drawn 4, lost 6, goals for 18, goals against 17, points 16 (out of 48)

Position in form table of last six league matches:    2^nd won 5, drawn 0, lost 1, goals for 12, goals against 4.

Last six matches:

16/02/2019  Curzon Ashton (H) won 2-0 Baker 2

12/02/2019 Chorley (A) Lost 2-0

09/02/2019 Telford United (H) Won 3-1 Armson, Ndlovu, Baker

02/02/2019 Chesterfield (A) Won 2-0 FA Trophy Ndlovu, Armson

26/01/2019 Bradford PA (H) Won 3-0 Baker 2, Ndlovu

19/01/2019 Alfreton (A) Won 1-0 Nti

 Last time we met:

Brackley 2 (Armson, Ndlovu) Darlington 4 (Ainge 3, Styche)

Darlington: Maddison, Trotman, Collins, Burn, Galbraith, Henshall (sub Nicholson 67), Wheatley, Elliott, Thompson (sub Saunders 85); Styche (Hughes 79), Ainge. Subs: Syers, Vaulks

Brackley: Lewis, Lowe, Franklin, Byrne, Hall (sub Nti 79), Dean, G Walker (sub Fairlamb 59), Armson, Ndlovu, Murombedzi (sub Myles 69), A Walker

Subs: Graham, Smith