DARLINGTON could be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja-vu as for the second week in a row they have prepared to face Salford City, and this time they are hoping the game actually takes place.

The scheduled fixture last Saturday was postponed due to a frozen pitch at Blackwell Meadows, and quickly rearranged for tomorrow (1pm) – Darlington Rugby Club play Acklam at home today and there will be a Christmas party for club members.

“We’ve built on what we worked on last week in training and we’re going to set up exactly the same way we were going to,” said Quakers boss Tommy Wright.

“The game should be on now, the temperature is rising a bit, so there shouldn’t be any problems there.”

There have been problems this season, however, with Quakers winning only two of their last 17 league fixtures, dropping to 16th in the table.

For various reasons Darlington have not played for three weeks – since losing to Harrogate Town in the FA Trophy – and not contested a league fixture since November 18.

The enforced winter break, however, could work in their favour, says Wright, who is hoping to oversee his first win as Quakers’ boss against the top-of-the-table opposition.

“The lads have loved it because if feels like their season is starting all over again, so it’s been a welcome break,” he said.

“They’ve had a bit of time on the training pitch, they had a weekend off a week ago as we had no game, the week before that we had played on the Friday night.

“The players have spent a bit of time away from the club and it’s probably taken a bit of pressure away from them.

“They’ve now regrouped and they’re focused on kick-starting our season.”

Despite being without a game last Saturday, Wright refrained from holding a training session due to the weather conditions, but says he trusts his players to do a fitness session of their own in the absence of a match.

Gary Brown, for example, completed a 7.5-mile run, and Wright said: “With the weather being like it was I didn’t think it was right to train and drag people in.

“Bearing in mind what time we would’ve finished, there were severe weather warnings along the motorway so you’ve got to be sensible sometimes and have a little bit of trust in the boys.

“The message was, if I’m not getting you in, make sure do your own bit but you’ve got to take a bit of responsibility.

“As I’ve said from day one, I know I’ve got an honest group and I know a lot of the lads do their own fitness work and that is key at this level of football.”

Giving players responsibility is a an approach Wight favours, saying: “When you set a team up to play how you want to play, you give them information but ultimately when they cross that white line they’re on their own.

“If my group of players win a game, it’s the players that have won, not me.

“I always felt that when I was playing. A manager can stand in front of the camera and take the plaudits – each to their own, they can do that, but it’s the players that have won.

“As a player you want that responsibility, because it means the manager has trusted you to try to win the game.”

Darlington have lost four of their five matches under Wright, conceding 13 goals in the process, and as a consequence he last week brought in goalkeeper James Talbot on loan from Sunderland.

The 20-year-old will make his debut tomorrow against a team that is eight points clear of second-placed Brackley, who beat Salford 4-0 in a Trophy game last month.

Last weekend’s victory at Blyth Spartans made it seven league wins in a row for Salford, who have yet to lose away from home in the league – only Manchester City in the top seven divisions can say the same – and while Quakers won 2-0 when the teams met on the first day of the season, Salford are living up to their billing as title favourites.

“The lads have got to match them in terms of workrate and fight, and hopefully we can match their quality,” said Wright.

“I’ve said to the boys that I would back them against any team in this league, and I mean it.

“We’re not going to set out to defend, we want to have a go at Salford. It’s not like they don’t let in goals because they do. Brackley put four past them the other week.

“They’re full-time so will have trained this week twice as much as we have. But I’m happy with what we’re doing and what I’m seeing.

“We’ll go into Sunday focused. It will be a tough ask but I am quietly confident.”