Darlington make their first-ever visit to Harborough Town tomorrow, and assistant manager Terry Mitchell is expecting a stern examination against a side he describes as one of the division's most progressive. 

"Never been there myself," Terry said of the Bowden Park venue. "There a team that's come up through the leagues, really progressive football club, AstroTurf pitch, so the surface is going to be decent for football." 

Harborough have made an impressive start to the season, and Terry was quick to point out that their rise through the divisions has been backed by shrewd recruitment rather than simply momentum. 

"They've had a really good start, a team that's got lots of energy and lots of good players, so it's not just about them on the front foot of the euphoria of coming through the leagues," he said. "They've recruited well — five or six players from the league above, and leagues above that even more, as we know. So it could be a really, really tough test, as every game will be in this league." 

Lessons from the Chester defeat 

Saturday's trip follows Tuesday night's defeat to Chester, a game in which Darlington worked hard but couldn't find that cutting edge. Terry was satisfied with the defensive side of the performance against a full-time outfit he expects to be challenging at the top of the table. 

"We had to match a team that's full-time, definitely going to be up there in the top three this year, if not the top two or one even," he explained. "Without the ball we kept a really good shape. They've only had two shots on target — they definitely dominated more of the ball than us, but what we set up to do defensively, a lot of it was positive." 

Going forward, though, Terry wants to see more end product, singling out crossing as an area for improvement. 

"The first two phases we played some nice little football at times, but the end product in the final third, as a team — not just the top lads — we didn't produce enough," he said. "The crossing in general was one of the key things we'd like to get better, because we had 15 of them but in our eyes only really successful with two. It's an area to develop, and we've got new players on both wings, so it's still a work in progress.

Building on the Bedford win 

The Chester setback came on the back of an encouraging away victory at Bedford the previous Saturday, where Darlington found the finishing touch that had been missing. 

"The performance at Bedford was good, and in the areas we're talking about — end product — we scored three goals," Terry told BBC Tees.

"This is what you get with young players, because we've got a lot of young players in the side this year, as we did last year. They take a little bit of time to get used to the league, but we were really happy with how we performed at Bedford." 

Looking Ahead

Whatever the result at Harborough, Terry’s focus remains on continual improvement from a squad still bedding in after significant summer changes. 

"When you're part-time, like 75% of the league, it'll take a bit of time, because when you get a new team together — and we've got eight or nine we didn’t have last year, so it's like half the team rebuilding — there's a lot of work to do," he said. 

"Every single game is about how we want to play, helping the lads become better at it. Even when you win a game, you've got to get better in how we want to play, the way of Darlington, to excite the fans. Win, lose, or draw, we'll always want improvements — because you've got to keep striving to get better, better, and better." 

Darlington travel to Harborough Town tomorrow looking to win the first-ever meeting.