CRAIG LIDDLE will welcome back some old pals tomorrow afternoon, when the main topic of conversation will no doubt revolve around what the Darlington defender describes as his best year in football.

It was in 2000 that Quakers came so desperately close to promotion, only to fall at the final hurdle in a play-off final defeat by Peterborough at Wembley.

Liddle was one of four defenders - Paul Heckinbottom, Steve Tutill and Neil Aspin making up the quartet - who formed one of the meanest defences in the Third Division. Quakers kept 19 clean sheets in the League and conceded just 36 goals all season.

With Marco Gabbiadini scoring for fun at the other end, David Hodgson's men looked destined for greater things.

But even though Andy Clarke's strike for the Posh put paid to Quakers' dreams of promotion, Liddle still looks back at that time with great affection.

"It was a great year for the club and it was certainly the best year of my career," said Liddle.

"We had a great chance to go up that season but for one reason or another we didn't."

One major factor, Liddle believes, was the Feethams pitch, which was regularly a quagmire.

"We had all sorts of problems with our pitch and on a good surface I'm certain we would have gone up," said Liddle

But pitch problems aside, Liddle, who has gone on to make 296 appearances for the club, believes there was never a better time to be at Darlington.

"The whole town was buzzing and it was just so good to be involved with the club at the time," said Liddle.

"It was hugely disappointing not to go up in the end."

Less than a week after retiring from the game due to a knee injury, Gabbiadini will make a special guest appearance before tomorrow's game, while Tutill and Aspin will line up for a Wembley XI in the second game.

"Hopefully, if the gaffer allows, I'll be able to join Tutts and Aspin at some point and play alongside them again," said Liddle.

"I'm looking forward to seeing all these old faces and I'm sure we'll have a good chat over a drink afterwards."

The former skipper admits he never imagined manager David Hodgon's fund-raising idea would have such an impact.

But with the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Chris Waddle agreeing to play their part in the event, Liddle is relishing the chance to play alongside some of his boyhood heroes.

"As a kid my heroes were players like Gazza and Waddle so it's going to be fantastic to play alongside them," said Liddle.

"I must admit I never imagined the idea would take off like it has done but the interest has been fantastic.

"Even in such a short space of time the gaffer has managed to pull this together and it promises to be a great day for the club.

"We are in a desperate situation but I'm sure this will go some way to helping us."

And with a brief respite from a tense relegation battle, Liddle is looking forward to one of his more relaxing weekends.

"It makes a nice change driving home on a Friday without the worry of wondering what will happen on the Saturday," said Liddle.

"We've had a couple of days off this week but we have worked very hard on the days we have been in.

"All the lads are looking forward to it and it should be a good day, especially for the fans, who have been fantastic as usual.

"There will be no pressure on us on Sunday and we can just enjoy our football and hopefully get some shooting practice!"

Read more about the Quakers here.