The managers of Darlington and Spennymoor Town are dealing with selection issues for very different reasons ahead of this evening’s crucial encounter between the promotion rivals.

Quakers have an almost fully-fit squad, leaving Martin Gray pondering which of his players he will disappoint by leaving on the bench at Heritage Park (7.45pm ko).

He made four changes for Saturday’s FA Trophy win at Scarborough Athletic, when the recalled Mark Bell, Terry Galbraith, Liam Hatch and David Dowson all played their part in one of the best performances of the season as Darlington enjoyed a ninth successive win.

It is likely Gray will restore the rested four – Peter Jameson, Tom Portas, Amar Purewal and Graeme Armstrong – to the starting XI, but Spennymoor have injury doubts over three key players.

Midfielder Lewis Dodds suffered a cut head on Saturday against Bamber Bridge, striker Gavin Cogdon went off with a hamstring injury in the first half and full-back Kallum Griffiths could be out with a groin injury.

The strength of Town’s squad, however, means Ainsley will be confident of providing a stern test of top-of-the-table Darlington.

With his team sixth, but with games in hand, Ainsley said: “We’re going into the game full of confidence, we’ve had some good wins recently. Darlington are a tough side, but so are we. This is our chance to prove that we are a good side.

“We’ve been disappointing on the last two occasions that we’ve played Darlington at our place, but we drew 0-0 there in the Northern League and nearly won.

“We’ve also done well away from home, we’ve lost just once in the league, and in the FA Cup at Telford. The league is wide open and we must make sure that we remain on the shirt tails of the leading group.”

Both teams are in good form, with Town winning their last four league matches, scoring 17 goals in the process having overcome an indifferent start during which they lost 2-0 to Quakers at the Brewery Field.

It was a fixture Darlington’s Stephen Thompson missed and he has only recently began to show signs of the form that saw him crowned the Evo-Stik Northern Premier League player of the year last season.

He scored a cracking goal on Saturday, however, struck powerfully from the edge of the area and said: “That was probably the best I’ve played this season.

“I’m not saying I’m back to how I’ve been the last two years, but it was better. Hopefully it’s a start and I want to take it into Wednesday and after that we’ve got another three hard games.

“Hopefully the goals are starting to come now. I had a dodgy start to the season, I know that, nobody needs to tell me. I missed the first two games suspended, then I came in and couldn’t find any form. The more I was trying, the less well I played.

“I came back into the team and got injured. I was thinking a little bit about my hamstring, it was in my head, so I wasn’t running 100 per cent.

“It was confidence in the end, just trying to get myself confident. The last three games I’ve been getting better and I’m hoping that’s the start of me getting back to how I was.”

Saturday’s strike, within the first 60 seconds of the second-half, gave Darlington a 2-0 lead during a 4-0 win.

Thompson said: “It was good play from Dows and Hatchy, I tried to catch them up. It was on my left foot so it was either going to go in the top corner or over the stand.

“I could’ve taken a touch, but I just thought I might as well get my head over it and hit it, and luckily it went in the top corner.”

After a generous run of fixtures in October, November sees Darlington face several sides towards the top of the division.

However, they passed their first test on Saturday with flying colours, and Thompson added: “We’re on the up and feel we can beat anybody. Wednesday is a massive game and confidence is a big thing in football.

“There’s been times over the last couple of seasons when we haven’t played well and won, but over the last nine games we’ve played really and won them all. The lads are buzzing.

“Scarborough were fifth and only lost once at home, but we were on a completely different level. They couldn’t get near us. We were stronger than them, quicker than them and it was a very good team performance.

“It’s about keeping going now, keeping our standards high over the next month and we’ll see where we are at the beginning of December.”