This evening’s play-off semi-final pits two teams together, Darlington and Spennymoor Town, who know each other well. Craig Stoddart looks at six reasons in favour of each team winning the match at Heritage Park

SIX REASONS WHY DARLINGTON CAN WIN
Good form

In their pursuit of the league title, ultimately won by Salford City, Darlington built up a head of steam by being unbeaten in their last nine league games, winning seven and drawing twice. Spennymoor Town, however, have won one of their last seven games.

Darlington have had the edge over Moors
Since becoming engaged in a local rivalry with Spennymoor during the 2013-13 season, the teams played four league games and Darlington are yet to lose. Quakers have won their last three league meetings, doing the double this year and are likely to select ten of the 11 players who started the fixture in November (only Amar Purewal will be missing).

The stats say Darlington are a better team
The league table does not lie, a popular belief in football, and this season Darlington’s runners-up spot meant they finished four places and 14 points ahead of Spennymoor. Furthermore, in this division’s seven previous seasons since being formed in 2007-08, the second-placed team has won their semi-final four times.

Play-off experience
Having reached the play-offs last year, losing to Ramsbottom United at Heritage Park, Darlington should at least be able to draw on that experience and learn from where they went wrong, whereas Spennymoor have not been in this position before. And Darlington can surely expect not to have to deal with a losing a player to injury inside the first ten seconds, as Leon Scott was in last year’s play-off semi.

Moors are missing key men
Without first-choice goalkeeper Adam McHugh and attacking midfielder Anthony Peacock, both due to suspension, Moors will be missing two key components of their side. Peacock is widely-believed to be the driving force behind the team this season.

Home advantage
Each club quickly sold their allocation of tickets, ensuring a sell-out crowd and brilliant atmosphere. As the home team, Darlington will be backed by the majority of the capacity 2,000 crowd at Heritage Park, where they hold a good record. Only Northwich and Salford City have beaten them there in 21 league games this season.

SIX REASONS CAN SPENNYMOOR TOWN CAN WIN
Different mindsets

Spennymoor say the pressure is on Darlington to win, while they are satisfied to have fulfilled their objective of reaching the play-offs. Clearly Moors want to win the play-offs, but perhaps Quakers could crumble under the pressure given that their stated aim at the beginning of the season was promotion.

They are due a win over Darlington
While the league table has seen Spennymoor and Darlington in close proximity during the two seasons that they have competed with one another, Moors have lost three of their four league meetings - surely they are going to beat Darlington eventually? Tonight could be the night.

The ex-factor
Football’s unwritten rule could come into play. Ex-players have a habit of returning to their former club to do damage, and Spennymoor are spoilt for choice when it comes to players who were once at Darlington. Joe Tait will be partnered at the back by either Paul Johnson or Chis Mason, and Nathan Fisher will also be in the starting line-up. John McReady will be on the bench, while Dan Groves and Ian Ward hope to be included in the squad.

Cup kings
Although not a cup game, the one-off nature of play-off matches may appeal to Jason Ainsley’s knack for guiding Moors to success in cup competitions. Two years ago they won the FA Vase at Wembley, while under his guidance they have also reached the finals of the Northern League Cup, the Durham Challenge Cup and enjoyed a couple of runs in the FA Cup.

Anth Smith
Jason Ainsley’s assistant manager, Anth Smith, a former Sunderland team-mate of Martin Gray and Brian Atkinson, is a highly-rated coach on the North-East non-league scene. At the beginning of the season he was manager at West Auckland when they held Darlington to a draw in the FA Cup – perhaps he holds the key to a long-awaited Spennymoor victory over Darlington.

Big game experience
Spennymoor are used to playing matches of importance late in the season. Since they were reformed as Spennymoor Town ten years ago, they have grown accustomed to prolonged title campaigns and cup finals around April/May and they usually come out on top.