DARLINGTON are looking to extend their unbeaten run to six matches when Hereford arrive at Blackwell Meadows on Saturday.

Quakers have collected nine points from their last five matches, a tally which would have been more if they had held on to leads at current leaders Bradford Park Avenue and Leamington.

And with Hereford experiencing a torrid time – they haven’t won in 13 league games since they beat Leamington on August 14 - Quakers boss Tommy Wright believes that his side now has the opportunity to increase their momentum.

“Now is the time to kick on,” he said. “No disrespect to Hereford, because it’s been proven time and time again that anybody can beat anybody in this league. But they’re in a horrible run of form, and we built a little bit of momentum before this break, so we need to pick up the pieces and start the game well. I don’t want the players to be rusty or lethargic, I want a fast start to the game – I want to give a good account of ourselves.

“We could have had more than just nine points from our last five matches. We’re playing catch up, we’ve dropped points further than five games ago. The reality is, that we should have had at least four points more before this five game spell, and with those we’ve dropped in the five game run, we should be much higher than we are. So it’s up to us now to get the points on the board and make up for lost time.

“The lads are chomping at the bit – they wanted to play last Saturday, but the reality is that the break came at the right time for us because it’s allowed the injured players to recover, the illnesses to clear up, as well as the niggly injuries and the tired legs.

“Hereford have had a bad run. We’ve played against teams that have had bad runs, and we want to get through it unscathed. A bad run has to come to an end sometime. We were in the middle of a bad run last season , we were 2-0 down at Leamington and won 3-2. Confidence is massive, Hereford will win a game at some point, but let’s hope it isn’t against us.”

Striker Simon Ainge, who received a nasty-looking head injury in the last home game against Guiseley, has fully recovered, as has defender Ben O’Hanlon from his hamstring injury. Keeper Jonny Maddison has recovered from a coccyx injury, but on loan keeper Zach Hemming will keep his place.

“Jonny got back to training with the physio earlier in the week, and didn’t have his first full training session until Thursday. Zach will play, I’m not going to leave that decision 50-50.

“There are one or two selection dilemmas, some of the lads have trained really, really well over the last fortnight, and that hasn’t gone unnoticed.”

Hereford’s recent history has been similar to, and as eventful as, Darlington’s. Under their old identity of Hereford United, they were relegated two leagues from the National League Premier to the Southern League in 2014, and half way through the 2014-15 season they folded.

With the prolific financial help of supporters, they reformed as Hereford FC in 2015-16 and played in the Midland League, winning the title and also reaching the FA Vase final, losing to Morpeth.

They won two more promotions on the bounce through the Southern League into the National League North. Peter Beadle, their manager from the start of the new club, was surprisingly sacked in early September.

  • Quakers have arranged to play their Buildbase FA Trophy tie against Telford United on Friday night, 23rd November, kick off 7.45pm.
  • Admission prices have been reduced for the game to £10 adults, £8 concessions and £5 Under 16s. Under 11s will be free.