Bradford Park Avenue vs Darlington 1883 Preview
Darlington will head to high flying Bradford Park Avenue in high spirits after last Saturday’s 3-0 mauling of promotion chasing Blyth Spartans.
Goals from a penalty by Stephen Thompson, then Reece Styche and David Syers finished off good moves to seal an impressive win for Tommy Wrights men.
The Quakers now sit 15th in the league, 3 points above the relegation zone and look to be heading in the right direction away from the drop zone after going four unbeaten since defeat at the hands of Salford City.
The reverse fixture between these two sides ended 2-1 to Darlington back in late October, with Josh Gillies getting what turned out to be the decisive goal in the tie. It was Tommy Wright’s first game in charge, but he left the duties to Gary Brown and Phil Turnbull.
Bradford Park Avenue come into this game needing a win to maintain their play off push. Last Saturday’s 5-0 thrashing of Gainsborough Trinity will ensure two sides in good form and high in confidence will meet at the Horsfall Stadium and it has all the ingredients to be a cracker.
A win could see The Avenue rise as high as 6th in the league where as a win for Darlington could implicate a big swing in league places seeing them possibly rise as high as 12th if results go the way of the Quakers. The bottom end of the league is very tight with just 6 points separating 20th place and 12th in the league.
Kick off is 3PM at the Horsfall Stadium on Saturday.
Team News for Darlington:
Dominic Collins is out because of a hamstring injury – maybe three weeks away from a return.
James Caton is out with a pulled hamstring.
Tom Portas is out with a thigh injury
Aynsley Pears continues in goal, even though James Talbot has completed his suspension.
Greg Mills is added to the squad after recovering from injury.
Credit to Darlington 1883 for the imagery used in this article.