Darlington v Matlock Town preview
By Ray Simpson
The Quakers are hoping they are able to take to the field on Tuesday night against Matlock Town. Dar...
The Quakers are hoping they are able to take to the field on Tuesday night against Matlock Town. Darlington were due to host Skelmersdale United on Saturday at Heritage Park, however, the game was postponed less than three hours before kick off.
The fixture against Matlock was due to be played in January, but was one of many games that were called off during the month.
The sides are yet to meet this season, with the reverse fixture scheduled for the 12th of March. In all of the last five seasons Matlock have finished the league campaign mid-table in the Evo-Stik Premier Division.
Matlock currently sit in fourteenth place in the league table, twelve points off the final playoff place. However, they are in good form, having picked up seven points from their last three games. Their game was also called off on Saturday, with their previous fixture being a 3-1 victory over Grantham Town. In their last away game at Ashton United, they were 2-0 up and then 4-2 down, before scoring twice in the last five minutes for a point. They include former Darlington player Craig Nelthorpe, who was in our squad against Rochdale in the 2008 play off semi final.
Matlock last seven matches:
February 6th Mickleover Sports (home) postponed
February 2nd Grantham (home) won 3-1 Wilson, Purkiss, Travis
January 30th Ashton United (away) drew 4-4 McManus, Purkiss 2, Wilson.
January 23rd Hyde United (home) won 2-1. Wilson, McManus
December 28th Ilkeston (away) won 1-0 Dawes
December 26th Buxton (home) lost 1-2 Nelthorpe
December 19th Colwyn Bay (away) won 4-1. Purkiss, Wilson, Cribley, McManus.
Quakers will be virtually at full strength, and manager Martin Gray will probably field an unchanged side. There will probably be a place on the bench for Amar Purewal, who has just been called up for the Panjab squad.
Quakers have won five out of their last six matches, and are currently fourth in the table.
Premier Division
P W D L F A PTS GD
Blyth 29 20 3 6 55 29 63 +26
Workington 30 18 7 5 52 30 61 +22
Salford City 29 17 6 6 56 29 57 +27
Darlington 25 16 4 5 53 25 52 +28
Ashton United 27 15 6 6 58 34 51 +24
Barwell 31 16 3 12 58 50 51 +8
Stourbridge 28 15 5 8 57 43 50 +14
Nantwich 30 13 9 8 67 43 48 +24
Rushall Olympic 28 12 9 7 50 33 45 +17
Kick-off at Heritage Park on Tuesday is 7:45pm. Updates on the game will be made from the Darlington Twitter, Facebook, phone app and on the official website.
There is a pitch inspection at 11am on Tuesday.