Preview and stats pack for Saturday’s home game with North Ferriby

Darlington manager Tommy Wright wants an improvement from the team’s performance when Quakers take on North Ferriby at Blackwell Meadows on Saturday.

Quakers have lost only once in the last nine matches to move up to 13^th in the table, nine points away from the relegation zone, with the last two matches being a 1-0 home win over Curzon Ashton and a 0-0 away draw at Tamworth.

“While the results have been good in the last two matches, I want to up the performance level,” said Tommy.

“I want the players to put on a show from the very first whistle, I want the fans to see them at their best, like they were against Blyth and Kidderminster.

“However, we mustn’t underestimate North Ferriby because they’re bottom of the table. They’ve shown signs of improvement lately, they won at Bradford Park Avenue and drew at Nuneaton. We must keep winning matches so then we can forget about any relegation worries. Clubs near the bottom can still catch us up with their games in hand.”

Defender Josh Heaton, who missed the 0-0 draw at Tamworth in midweek, will return to the squad.

Kick off on Saturday is 3 pm, updates on the game will be made from the club’s Facebook, Twitter and Website. Live Commentary will be broadcast from Darlo Fans Radio from about 2.45pm

Team news:

Josh Heaton is back in the squad after being unavailable on Tuesday at Tamworth.

Dom Collins and Tom Portas will be back in full training soon.

Chris Hunter is continuing his recovery

Statistics:

Quakers last five matches:

13^th March Tamworth (away) drew 0-0

Pears, Trotman, O’Hanlon, Turnbull, Vaulks, Galbraith, Mills (sub Caton 70), Syers, Styche, Gillies, Thompson.

Subs: Glover, Bancroft, Brown, Saunders

10^th March Curzon Ashton (home) won 1-0 Syers

Darlington: Pears, Trotman, O'Hanlon, Turnbull, Heaton, Galbraith, Caton (sub Gillies 46), Glover (sub Mills 75), Styche, Syers, Thompson (sub Scott 90+2)

Subs Bancroft, Vaulks,

24^th February Kidderminster (home) won 2-1 Heaton, Thompson

Pears, Trotman, Heaton, Vaulks, Galbraith, Turnbull, Wheatley (sub Scott 69), Saunders (sub Gillies 69), Syers, Thompson, Styche

Subs:  Bancroft, Glover, Mills

17^th February Brackley (away) lost 0-3

Pears, Trotman, Heaton, Galbraith, O'Hanlon, Turnbull, Wheatley (sub Glover 78), Gillies, Syers, Mills, Saunders

Subs: Scott, Bancroft, G Brown, Milburn

10^th February Bradford PA (away) won 1-0 Syers

Darlington: Pears, Trotman, O’Hanlon, Turnbull, Heaton, Galbraith, Gillies (sub Brown 84), Wheatley, Styche (sub Mills 89) , Syers, Thompson

Subs: Scott, Bancroft, Saunders

Leading scorer:  Reece Styche  9 (inc 2 in Trophy) Stephen Thompson 8

Current league position: 13th

Position in form table of last six games:  6th

Home form:  played 17, won 8, drawn 4, lost 5  goals scored 28, concede 20, Points 28 (out of 43 total)

Best home winning margin 4-1 v Alfreton, 3-0 v Blyth, 3-0 v FC United

North Ferriby

Last five matches:

10^th March: Nuneaton (away) drew 2-2 Mail, Johnson

Nuneaton Town:  Ross Etheridge, Luther Wildin, Niall Heaton, Tom Elliott, Ryan Johnson, Kennedy Digie, James Ferry (Andre Wright 76),  Ryan Beswick, Ashley Chambers, George Green (Adil Nabi  84), Daniey Nti

Subs not used:  Kairo Mitchell, Dean Lyness, Joel Dieina,

Manager Chris Bolder said; “We are now getting the minimum requirement with players coming off the pitch at the end of the game  being able to give no more.

“The goals we conceded were both disappointing. Each player has a responsibility at set-pieces and that responsibility was not taken for their first goal. The second was a poor mix-up and lack of communication.

“We now travel to Darlington next week with two unbeaten away games behind us. It’s a fair reward for the effort that the players have made in both games and training in recent weeks.”

24^th February: Bradford PA (away) won 1-0 Collins

NFU: Ross Durrant , Jordon Cooke, Kojo Kyei, Bobby Johnson James Piercey, Jack Mail, Jordan Deacey (Charlie Dunkerley 57),   Jamie Forrester, Josh Walker 57 (Ben Clappison 82))Jordan Harrison, Lewis Collins, Luke Lofts

Substitutes not used: Lewis Exall

17^th February: Southport (home) lost 0-3

NFU: Ross Durrant , Jordon Cooke, Kojo Kyei, Ben Clappison (Charlie Dunkerley 68),   James Piercey, Jack Mail, Jordan Harrison, Bobby Johnson, Sam Ansu (James Nicholls 58), Adam Bolder, Luke Lofts (George Harrison 82)

Substitutes not used: Lewis Exall

13^th February Brackley (away) lost 0-3

NFU: Ross Durrant , Jordon Cooke, Kojo Kyei, Paul Robson, James Piercey, Jack Mail, Jordan Harrison, Bobby Johnson, Brett Agnew Sam Ansu 68), Jordan Deacey  (Luke Lofts 37), Charlie Dunkerley (Jorome Slew 58),  Substitute not used:Ben Clappison.

10^th February AFC Telford United (away) lost 0-3

NFU: Ross Durrant , Paul Robson, Jack Walters, Jamie Forrester (Ben Clappison 34), Jordon Cooke, Jack Mail, Jordan Harrison, Luke Lofts, Brett Agnew, Jordan Deacey  ( Charlie Dunkerley 73)  Jorome Slew (James Piercey 62)

Substitutes not used: Lewis Exall, Kojo Kyei

League position: 22nd

Position in form table of last six games:  20th

Away form:  played 17, won 2, drawn 3 lost 12. Goals scored  10, conceded 41, points 9 (out of a total of 13)

Best away win:  1-0 at Blyth, 1-0 at Bradford PA

Connections:

Jason St Juste, who played for Quakers in 2004, was man of the match for North Ferriby when they beat Wrexham in the FA trophy final three years ago.

[caption id="attachment_40804" align="alignnone" width="300"] Jason St Juste[/caption]

Previous meetings:

This season:

North Ferriby United 1 (Bateson) Darlington 1 (Gillies)

Darlington: Wilczynski, Hunter (sub Marrs 38) , Collins, Galbraith, Ferguson; Thompson (sub Wheatley 69), Turnbull, Portas, Gillies; Beck, Caton (sub Saunders 76)

Subs not used: Fenwick, Bell. Booking: Marrs

North Ferriby: Durrant, Cooke, Dixon, Johnson, Skelton, Picton, Russell, Fry (sub Barrows 15), Francis, Ambalu (sub Hutchinson 76), Pugh (sub Bateson 46)

Subs not used: Gray, Rzonca

Attendance: 479

Saturday’s games:

Vanarama National League North

Alfreton v Kidderminster, Blyth v Curzon Ashton, Boston United v FC United of Manchester, Brackley v Chorley, Bradford PA v AFC Telford United, Darlington v North Ferriby, Gainsborough v Stockport, Leamington v Nuneaton, Salford City v Spennymoor Town, Tamworth v Harrogate Town, York City v Southport