Level on points in first position alongside two fellow promotion challengers, it’s tight at the top and Darlington can ill afford a slip when they travel to struggling Padiham this afternoon.

Quakers are ahead of Northwich Victoria and Salford City on goal difference, with the North-West clubs today both taking on teams in the play-off hunt, Spennymoor Town and Bamber Bridge respectively.

Their fixtures contrast sharply with Darlington’s opposition, who are bottom of the table having lost 11 league games in a row.

Padiham have conceded an average of three goals per game – 75 in 26 matches – while Quakers have the best defensive record in the country having conceded only 13 goals, keeping 12 clean sheets.

The Lancashire club have conceded at least one goal in every game, but Darlington scored only once at Heritage Park in October – an Amar Purewal penalty - and manager Martin Gray is treating the opponents with respect.

“We’ll be playing a team as strong as we possibly we can. It’s just another game and the approach will be the same usual: We will field our strongest starting XI.

“We don’t have an easy game, there is no such thing. You’ve got to make sure that you start every match well and if you do then the match can become a little bit easier for yourself, but until then it’s 11 versus 11.

“You’ve got to remember that you’re still playing against 11 players and you’ve got to respect your opposition.

“It might be top versus bottom, but it’ll still be a hard game and as staff we’ve got to make sure the players know the importance of the fixture.

“The teams around are playing each other again. Salford are playing Bamber Bridge, Northwich are playing Spennymoor, so they’ll be taking points off each other, so we’ve got to make sure we take maximum points.”

Darlington need no reminder that sides in the lower reaches of the division can cause problems. Seven days ago Brighouse Town, now 16th, held Quakers until the 69th minute, when a Gary Brown goal finally broke the deadlock.

Quakers had been poor in the first half, and Gray said: “Clubs can do that to you on their day, it can always happen.

“We changed things at half-time and livened things up, but we want to make sure we start games the right way. We do most of the time, and we’ve got to do it again on Saturday, start on the front and take the game to them.”

Today’s match is the first of a sequence of five away trips in Darlington’s next seven matches, while the team has a lot more games on the road than at Heritage Park during the remainder of the season, circumstances that do not trouble Gray.

“They’re all games that we’ve got to get on with, I’ve no real preference whether they’re home or away. I think we’ve got eight at home and 12 away, we’ve just got to get on with it,” said the manager, who is still waiting for league officials to rearrange four matches that were postponed.

Trips to Farsley, New Mills and Northwich as well as a home game with Lancaster City have yet to be pencilled in.

The manager added: “It was different with the Northern League because you’d have a bit of input and your secretary would speak to the Northern League about it, but now we’re waiting to be told.

“The sensible thing to do is to play at Northwich Victoria when we have a free Saturday in March and Farsley in midweek, so I hope it’s not going to be the other way around.”