All of the Darlington players are eagerly looking forward to Saturday’s friendly with a Newcastle United XI, but none more so than defender Gary Brown.

Gary is a staunch Newcastle fan, and attended some matches last season when he wasn’t on Darlington duty.

“I’ll be having a few choice words with the Newcastle players,” he joked.

“After what went wrong last season – there was plenty of effort but the results weren’t very good – I’ll be winding them up!”

Gary has achieved the fan’s dream of playing on the pitch at St James’ Park, and he has actually found the back of the net.

“When I was at Blyth, we played Newcastle Reserves in a Northumberland Senior Cup tie and I scored from the spot against Fraser Forster. I aimed for the seat for which I had a season ticket!”

Gary is pleased with the way pre-season has gone, with Quakers having won all three games so far.

“Pre-season is a new start for everybody. Every season we say that we should forget all about the previous season and start again.

“We’ve worked hard so far and everything’s gone quite well. We’re looking for another win and good performance. We want to get into good habits and win matches.”