The 1995/96 season promised to be an exciting time for Darlington fans. The club had just appointed David Hodgson and Jim Platt as their “dream team” management duo. One of their first jobs was to sell Adam Reed to Blackburn Rovers in order to balance the books, and to lift a transfer embargo, which the club found itself under. They then set about reshaping the squad for the coming campaign. One of their first signings was Gary Bannister, who joined the club as player coach. They also signed Phil Brumwell, Mark Barnard and Anthony Carss. Hodgson had previously worked as a football agent and he used his contacts to bring in trialists from far and wide. The club kicked off the new season with two Portuguese players in the squad – Pedro Paulo and Rui Neves.

The team didn’t make the anticipated start to the season and only won one of their first ten games, which left them third from bottom in the table at the end of September. Hodgson even put the whole team up for sale after one particularly poor performance at home to Scarborough (A particularly memorable interview – ed). October proved to be a good month though with five straight wins that moved the club up into the play-off positions. Then, just as the season showed signs of really getting going, the club received a massive setback when Hodgson resigned and left Platt in sole charge. Goalkeeper Mike Pollitt was sold to Notts County in a deal done behind Hodgson’s back, and he quit, saying that he was sick of the internal politics and that he’d been misled about the club’s financial position. While other promotion contenders spent big in an attempt to secure their positions, the Quakers had to sell yet again to balance the books, with Gary Himsworth being sold to York City for £25,000. Himsworth had been an ever present in the side up until his shock transfer in February.

By the time Lincoln City visited Feethams on March 30th, the Quakers were very handily placed in the Division 3 table, secure in a play off place, with an outside chance of grabbing one of the three automatic promotion places. They sat in sixth place with 59 points from their 37 games so far, only one point behind Plymouth in third. Platt made one change from the side that had beaten Hereford 1-0 the previous week. Left back Mark Barnard had recovered from a broken nose and would replace Anthony Carss, who dropped to the bench. Also on the bench would be new signing Gary Twynham. The former Manchester United midfielder had signed during the week and would be joining the Quakers full time when released from prison. He’d been granted day release for the Lincoln game.

A disappointing crowd of only 2146 turned out to see the Quakers make a strong start to the game. They went close twice in the opening few minutes, first through Simon Shaw’s right foot drive and then with a Gary Bannister first time volley after a clever flick by Robbie Blake. Matt Carmichael drove a free kick through the Lincoln wall but straight at visiting keeper Barry Richardson. The Quakers grabbed the lead that their early play deserved in the 21st minute. Steve Gaughan picked up a pass from Matty Appleby 30 yards out. He side stepped a defender and unleashed an absolute screamer into the top corner of the net, leaving Richardson helpless. The lead lasted only three minutes. A right wing corner by Jason Minett was headed home by Dutchman Gijsbert Bos for the equaliser. The home side continued to push men forward, Sean Gregan the next to try his luck, but Richardson made a good save to keep him out.

Darlington regained the lead on the half hour. Robbie Blake received the ball from a throw in and made progress down the left wing. He reached the bye line and pulled the ball back for Gaughan to sidefoot a simple second. The Quakers continued to dominate with Richardson just managing to punch away a Robbie Painter shot, then full back Terry Fleming came to his keeper’s rescue by clearing a Blake piledriver off the line.

Then, in the 55th minute, completely against the run of play, Lincoln found another equaliser. Again it was a right wing corner that caused the problem. The home defence failed to clear and in the goalmouth scramble that followed, Bannister’s attempted clearance rebounded off Gareth Ainsworth into the net.

Straight from the restart the Quakers regained the lead. Blake, Bannister and Painter gathered around the kick off and worked the ball forward in neat triangles. The move finished with Painter in possession down the right hand side of the penalty area. He beat two defenders and crossed for Blake to calmly slot the ball home from six yards out. Less than a minute after being pegged back to 2-2 the home side were back in front. This time they didn’t let their lead slip. Lincoln threw men forward looking for a third equaliser but the Quakers defence held firm, despite having to deal with a succession of corners and long throws from the direct, route one approach of the Imps. 

The programme for the 1995/96 season consisted of 36 pages, cost £1.30, and was designed and printed by Mawers Talbot Print. Inside were From The Bench – the managers column, Chairman’s Comments by Bernard Lowery, three pages on the opponents, a page of supporters club news, match facts for first team, junior and reserve teams, Quaker Action with photos from a recent game and there were the usual, always interesting articles by Frank Tweddle - Past Encounters with the opposition, latest News on Division 3 and Reminiscing, describing previous games played on the same date in history. The team line-ups were on the back cover.  

Team v Lincoln : 1 Paul Newell 2 Simon Shaw 3 Mark Barnard 4 Matty Appleby 5 Andy Crosby 6 Sean Gregan 7 Gary Bannister 8 Steve Gaughan 9 Robbie Painter 10 Robbie Blake 11 Matt Carmichael Subs 12 Anthony Carss (not used) 13 Phil Brumwell (replaced Shaw, 15 minutes) 14 Gary Twynham (not used)