Darlington, will have to recover quickly from the 1-0 defeat at Stourbridge, as they face a Salford side who leapfrogged the Quakers in the league table on Saturday.

Salford moved up into third place in the league, one point ahead of Darlington, following a 2-0 win at home to Ilkeston on Saturday. They have the best away record in the league having won 12 of their 16 games.

League table

As at February 27

Premier Division

P          W        D         L          F          A         PTS     GD

Blyth                                       34        24        3          7          67        32        75        +35

Workington                             33        19        8          6          55        32        65        +23

Salford City                            33        19        6          7          64        35        63        +29

Darlington                               30        19        5          6          62        30        62        +32

Stourbridge                             32        19        5          8          65        46        62        +19

Barwell                                    34        19        3          12        65        50        60        +15

Ashton United                         30        16        7          7          64        38        55        +26

Rushall Olympic                     33        14        9          9          59        42        54        +17

Nantwich                                32        14        10        8          71        44        52        +27

Salford's recent form:

February 27^th Ilkeston (home) won 2-0. Webber, Hulme

Dootson, Gumbs, O'Halloran, Stopforth, Howson, Lynch, Hulme, Clark (sub Allen 67), Hine, Seddon (sub Johnston 32), Webber (sub Poole 80)

Subs not used: Dawson, Mwasile

February 23^rd Marine (away) won 2-0. Lynch, Clark

February 20^th Ilkeston (away) lost 1-2 Webber

February 13^th Darlington (home) lost 3-4 Hine, Lynch, Webber

The two sides have had a well documented rivalry over the last few seasons and both are in the promotion race again this season. Last season the two teams went head-to-head for the league title with Salford coming out on top, but thankfully we were able to join them in the Evo-Stik Premier division this season after success in the playoffs.  The two games between the sides last year saw Salford come out on top on both occasions, with wins 1-0 at Heritage Park and 2-0 at Moor Lane.

Salford had the upper hand in the two club’s meetings until the reverse fixture just over two weeks ago. In one of the most dramatic games in recent years for Darlington, the side came from 3-1 down to win 4-3 thanks to a late winner from Nathan Cartman.

Last time we met

Salford City 3 Darlington 4

There haven’t been many more dramatic games in the club’s recent history than this one at Moor Lane. Quakers were two goals behind twice and still won! When was the last time that happened?

Salford took the lead on 22 minutes, when a free kick from the left went to the far post, where Josh Hine beat Peter Jameson with a looping header.

It was 2-0 on 24 minutes, a deep free kick to the far post from inside the Salford half was nodded down by Steve Howson for Chris Lynch to sidefoot home.

Quakers were denied a goal on 40 minutes when Stephen Thompson hit a right foot shot that struck the right hand post, and new signing Liam Hardy’s follow up was blocked. Thompson also had a pretty valid penalty appeal turned down.

Quakers kept plugging away and pulled a goal back on 59 minutes. Liam Gaskell cut in from the left, tried to square the ball for Thompson, but the ball bounced off a defender for Tom Portas, who kept his cool and slotted the ball past Lynch.

But Salford went up the other end and went 3-1 up.  John Johnston put a low cross into the middle, Peter Jameson hesitated, and that allowed Danny Webber to nip in front of him and score.

Then, the best Darlo comeback in recent years started. Quakers made it 3-2 on 69 minutes, when Thompson cleverly sent Gaskell running through, and he coolly lifted the ball over the advancing keeper for his 12^th goal of the season.

Quakers levelled on 78 minutes, when sub Graeme Armstrong fired the ball across the face of goal for Gaskell to turn in unmarked at the far post.

They kept pressing forward, and they got the winner on 85 minutes, when Terry Galbraith flicked on Phil Turnbull's free kick for Nathan Cartman to guide the ball home and spark wild celebrations with the fans. What a moment!

Goals:

Hine (22 mins, 1-0), C Lynch (24 mins, 2-0), Portas (59 mins, 2-1), Webber (62 mins, 3-1) Gaskell (70 mins, 3-2, 76 mins, 3-3), Cartman (87 mins 3-4)

Darlington: Jameson, Hunter, Brown, Burgess, Galbraith, Mitchell, Scott, Turnbull, Thompson (sub Cartman 69), Gaskell (sub Nowakowski 90+1), Hardy (sub Armstrong 65).

Subs not used: Mitchell, Provett.

Booking: Armstrong (foul)

Salford City

Lynch, Gumbs (Sub Dawson 90) , O'Halloran, Moses, Howson, C Lynch, Johnston, Burton (sub Mwaslie 85), Hine, Webber (sub Seddon 80), Allen.

Subs not used: Dootson, Clark.

Bookings: Lynch (dissent)

Sending off: Lynch (two yellows)

Referee: M Woods

The game on Tuesday night will see the two sets of supporters segregated, kick off at Heritage Park is 7:45pm, updates will be made from the club’s Facebook, Twitter, Phone App, Website and be covered live on Darlo Fans Radio.