Preview and stats pack for Wednesday’s home game with Southport

Our last home game of the season sees us host Southport on Wednesday night (writes Simon Hahn). Saturday saw us draw 0-0 at home to Nuneaton on what was a largely uneventful afternoon at Blackwell Meadows.

The result left us in 12^th place six points off the final playoff place. Southport like ourselves started the season very well before sliding down the table going on a long run without a win They installed former England international Kevin Davies at the helm though and he has managed to turn their fortunes around. Their safety has been confirmed in recent weeks thanks to other results, but their form has again dipped. They have lost their last seven league games including 1-0 at home to Brackley on Saturday.

Our meeting earlier in the season saw us fall to a 2-0 defeat despite having the majority of chances throughout the game.

Kick off on Wednesday is 7:45pm, updates on the game will be made from the club’s Facebook, Twitter and Website. Live Commentary will be broadcast from Darlo Fans Radio at 7:35pm.

Team news:

Luke Trotman and Dom Collins are still ruled out because of injuries.

One or two players are carrying minor knocks but should be fit.

Statistics:

Quakers last five matches:

21^st April Nuneaton (home) drew 0-0

Pears, Brown, Heaton, Galbraith, O’Hanlon: Turnbull, Wheatley; Thompson (sub Caton 75), Syers (sub Portas 69), Gillies (sub Saunders 84); Styche

Subs: Glover, Bancroft,

Highlights here

http://darlingtonfc.co.uk/tommy-pleased-with-effort-following-nuneaton-point/

19^th April Spennymoor (away) won 2-1 Styche, Tait og

Pears, Portas (sub Caton 73), Heaton, Galbraith, O’Hanlon: Turnbull, Wheatley; Thompson, Syers (sub Brown 62), Gillies; Styche (sub Saunders 73)

Subs: Glover, Bancroft

14^th April FC United (away) won 2-1 Gillies, Styche

Pears: Trotman (sub Portas 58), Heaton, Galbraith, O’Hanlon; Turnbull, Wheatley, Thompson, Syers, Gillies (sub Collins 90+1); Styche (sub Saunders 85)

Subs: Bancroft, Caton,

7^th April Boston (home) lost 1-2 Styche

Darlington: Pears, Portas (sub Collins 87, O'Hanlon, Turnbull (sub Mills 63), Heaton, Galbraith, Gillies (Caton 63), Wheatley, Styche, Syers, Thompson

subs: Glover, Bancroft,

24^th March Telford (away) drew 0-0

Pears, Trotman, Heaton, Galbraith, O'Hanlon; Gillies, Turnbull, Wheatley, Thompson; Styche (sub Saunders 46), Caton (sub Scott 65)

Subs: Bancroft, Glover, Vaulks,

Leading scorer:  Reece Styche 12 (inc 2 in Trophy) Stephen Thompson 10

Current league position:  12th

Position in form table of last six games: 8th

Home form: played 20, won 9 drawn 5, lost 6, goals scored 35, against 22, points 32 out of 54

Best home winning margin: 6-0 v North Ferriby

Southport are managed by former Bolton and England striker Kevin Davies, here's a piece about him that was on the BBC website earlier this year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43554905

Last five matches:

April 21^st Brackley (home) lost 0-1

Southport (4-3-3): Halstead, Richards, Marx, Howson, Smith, Morgan, Osborne, Lynch, Gilchrist (Hannah 88), Charles (Dawson 66), Cockerline.

Subs not used: Worsnop, Priestley, Doyle.

April 19 ^th Blyth (away) lost 0-1

Southport: Halstead, Richards, Priestley, Morgan, Howson, Marx, Osborne, Lynch, Gilchrist, Dawson, Charles.

Subs: Worsnop, Doyle, Smith, Cockerline, Hannah

April 17^th: Salford City (home)  Lost 0-1

Southport (4-3-3): Halstead, Richards, Marx, Howson, Kelly (Priestley 78), Morgan (Hannah 87), Osborne, Lynch, Dawson (Cockerline 82), Charles, Gilchrist.

Subs not used: Worsnop, Smith.

April 14^th Harrogate (away) lost 0-2

Southport (4-2-3-1): Halstead, Richards, Marx, Howson, Kelly (Whittle 85), Morgan, Lynch, Osborne, Dawson (Hannah 72), Charles, Gilchrist.

Subs not used: Worsnop, Priestley, Smith.

April 7^th Nuneaton (home) lost 0-1

Southport (4-4-2): Worsnop, Richards, Howson, Priestley, Kelly, Smith (Hannah 58), Morgan (Doyle 90), Osborne, Dawson (Whittle 79), Charles, Gilchrist.

Subs not used: Halstead, Marx

March 28^th York City (away) lost 2-3 Gilchrist, Osborne

Southport (4-3-3): Worsnop, Richards, Howson, Marx, Whittle, Smith (Dawson 46), Osborne, Lynch, Hannah, Gilchrist, Charles.

Subs not used: Halstead, Fagan, Doyle, Priestley.

League position: 19th

Position in form table of last six league games: 22^nd (lost their last seven)

Away  form:  played 19, won 5, drawn 4, lost 10 goals scored 21, conceded 36, points 19 (out of 47 total)

Best away wins 3-0 at Gainsborough and   North Ferriby

Top scorer: Jason Gilchrist 26

Previous meetings:

The clubs have met on 93 previous occasions, with Quakers winning 34, Southport 42, and 17 draws.

We have met each other in five different competitions: the old Football League Third Division North, Football League Fourth Division, FA Cup, Blue Square Premier and now Vanarama National League North. The last time Quakers beat Southport was in the 2010-11 season in the Blue Square Premier, John McReady scoring in the last minute.

This season:

Southport 2 (Sang, Merrie) Darlington 0

Southport: Halstead, Dugdale, C Jones, Smith, Jackson, Roberts, Jennings (sub Fletcher 65), Merrie, White, Sang, Zama (sub E Jones 60).

Subs not used: Schumacher, Kpohomouh, Boden.

Darlington: Bartlett, Collins, Burgess, Galbraith (Vaulks 56), Ferguson, Caton, Syers (sub Saunders 75), Turnbull, Gillies, Thompson (sub Portas 70), Beck.

Subs not used: Scott, Wilczynski.