After two successive Championship winning seasons, Darlington would be kicking off the 1991/92 season in the rarefied atmosphere of Division Three. There had been changes at the club during the summer as Brian Little had moved on to Leicester City and Frank Gray had taken over as manager. There were very few changes on the playing staff though and the club kicked off the new season with basically the same nucleus of players that had served Little so well in winning the Conference and Division Four titles. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the team found it much tougher going in Division Three. In two years, they had gone from playing teams such as Merthyr Tydfil and Fisher Athletic to competing with the likes of Birmingham, Stoke and West Brom.

By the time Fulham visited Feethams on 30th November 1991, the Quakers were sat bottom of Division Three with 14 points from 16 games. Gray had set about the task of reshaping and strengthening his struggling side. He signed midfielder Gary Hamilton on loan from Middlesbrough and also brought in Nick Pickering after he was released by Derby County. The left sided midfield player had also previously played for Sunderland and Coventry City and had won one England cap. Gray also went north of the border and signed a young centre forward called Dugald McCarrison on loan from Celtic.

Pickering and McCarrison had both made their debuts in a 4-0 demolition of Hartlepool at the beginning of November but the team had followed that game with three without a win to leave them rooted to the foot of the table. Fulham had started the season in decent form and had been placed as high as sixth at the beginning of November, but then three consecutive defeats had dropped them down to 13th. They were managed by Alan Dicks and included former Newcastle striker Gary Brazil in their side. Their squad also included a 20 year old Andy Cole, on loan from Arsenal, but he was left out of the side as Dicks adopted a more defensive approach. Gray had injury problems, especially in midfield. Gary Gill and Gary Hamilton would both miss the game with knee injuries. Jimmy Willis returned to the side after a month out with hamstring trouble and Michael Trotter got a rare start, deputising for Hamilton.

A crowd of 2655 were at Feethams for the Fulham game. They saw the Quakers start brightly and dominate the early stages, taking the lead in the 20th minute. An Andy Toman corner was dropped by Fulham keeper Jim Stannard and in the ensuing scramble Kevan Smith fired a shot towards goal. Dugald McCarrison got his head onto the ball and diverted it onto the post and the rebound fell invitingly for Lee Ellison who netted from 10 yards out. The visitors' goal led a charmed life as Darlington remained on top and went looking for more goals. Mitch Cook saw his 20 yard free kick tipped over the bar by Stannard, then Toman rattled the post from 25 yards out. Ellison raced clear but his low shot towards the bottom corner was superbly saved by Stannard at full stretch, then Toman had a fierce shot deflected wide for a corner and McCarrison fired just over the bar with an acrobatic overhead kick from close range. Fulham hit back in the closing minutes of the first half and Mark Prudhoe was called into action for the first time. He made a good save to keep out a low drive from Peter Scott, then moments later he had to be alert to block a close range Gary Brazil header. Half time: Darlington 1 Fulham 0.

The visitors started the second half in determined mood and equalised on 49 minutes with their best move of the game. A quick break down the right ended with a deep cross beyond the far post by full back John Marshall. It was headed back across goal by Glen Thomas and headed home by Brazil for his tenth goal of the season.

Just when it looked as if the visitors might take something from the game, the Quakers regained the lead on 60 minutes with a brilliant piece of play by Ellison. There seemed very little on for the centre forward when he received the ball on the edge of the box with a crowded goalmouth in front of him. Ellison floated the deftest of chips over the defenders into the far top corner of the net with Stannard helpless.

Three minutes later Darlington made the game safe with a superbly worked team goal. Smith and Toman combined to send Cook racing away down the left and his low cross was turned into the net at the far post by McCarrison. A brilliant afternoon for the Quakers was tarnished slightly by the sending off of McCarrison on 78 minutes. He felt that he’d been stamped on after a robust tackle by Scott and kicked out in retaliation. The referee missed the original incident and only saw the retaliation and waved the red card.

The 3-1 victory lifted the Quakers five places but failed to kick start their season and they continued to struggle at the wrong end of the table. Gray eventually paid for the poor results with his job. He was sacked in late February and replaced by Ray Hankin, who was given the job until the end of the season but couldn’t halt the inevitable slide towards relegation. Darlington only won two of Hankin’s fifteen games in charge and finished the campaign ten points adrift at the foot of the table.

The Fulham game proved to be the final time that Dugald McCarrison and Jimmy Willis appeared in a Darlington shirt. McCarrison’s loan spell came to an end and he returned to Celtic, after playing six games and scoring two goals. Willis was reunited with Brian Little at Leicester City in a £200,000 transfer in early December. In three and a half years with the Quakers he had made 151 appearances and scored eight goals.

The programme for the 1991/92 season consisted of 24 pages, cost £1 and featured Kevan Smith on the front cover, holding aloft the Division 4 trophy. It contained all the usual match day articles – Managers Notes, opposing team's pen pics, Captain's Corner, Notes from the Chairman, an in-depth profile of a squad member, View from the Press Box, on this day in history, supporters club notes, previous encounters, action photos, reserves and juniors news, 3rd Dimensions (with news of what was happening elsewhere in the division), match facts and figures and of course the team line-ups.

Team v Fulham: 1 Mark Prudhoe 2 Les McJannet 3 Mitch Cook 4 Jimmy Willis 5 Kevan Smith 6 Nick Pickering 7 Michael Trotter 8 Andy Toman 9 Lee Ellison 10 Dugald McCarrison 11 Mick Tait Subs 12 Sean Gregan (not used) 14 John Borthwick (replaced Ellison, 88 mins).