WIN today and Darlington can consider themselves as good as safe from relegation, though anything less than victory would be a disappointment.

Weather permitting - there is a 9:30am pitch inspection - they are at home to bottom-of-the-table North Ferriby, who have won only twice this season, losing 24 of their 33 games and are 24 points from safety.

Relegation is inevitable, it could be confirmed today, and for a time there were genuine concerns Quakers would join them after an alarming slide down the table.

They won just three league games from August until January, 24 matches covering the end of Martin Gray’s days and the beginning of Tommy Wright’s tenure, which started inauspiciously.

Goals were conceded regularly, formations and personnel experimented with, but Wright has now overseen a run of only one defeat in nine matches since mid-January, winning five times, but he warned: I’m not the Messiah.

“I’ve never doubted myself and I’ve got so much time for the lads, so I never doubted them either,” he explained.

“Our situation was that our group of fans had got used to winning games and had almost forgotten what it’s like to lose. But we started losing a lot of games and you can’t keep on saying ‘but we’re playing well’, because ultimately people want good results.

“We’ve started getting results, but I’m not the Messiah or anything like that. It’s not like we’ve done anything radical, the lads just needed a boost in confidence and they have now started to believe in themselves.”

While avoiding the drop with a squad largely made up of players who finished fifth last season can hardly be described as an achievement, Wright has had to deal with the upheaval caused by losing players.

Those he has brought to Quakers – eight signings in all, including two loan goalkeepers - have made a positive impact.

“When players want to leave it makes the situation difficult,” admitted Wright. “When I walked in I understood Adam Bartlett was happy, but I then got a couple of phone calls and everything changed.

“He moved on and we’ve since had two loan goalkeepers who have been superb for us.

“David Ferguson left but I do rate him and I think he’s got similar characteristics to Ben O’Hanlon. As for Mark Beck, I do like my target men centre-forwards, but we replaced him with Reece Styche.

“Everything happens for a reason. It gave me an opportunity to put my own stamp on things. I walked into a group that was low on confidence and they had a set way of doing things.

“It was about getting our way over to them and it probably took longer than I wanted it to.”

Josh Heaton is one of Wright’s signings and he will regain his place today after being unavailable for Tuesday’s trip to Tamworth.

Heaton committed himself to Quakers by signing a new two-year deal, as has left-back O’Hanlon, but Joe Wheatley remains in limbo with Wright saying he has lost focus and, in turn, his place in the starting XI.

North Ferriby have recently picked up a couple of good results against teams in the top half of the table.

Three weeks ago they doubled their win tally for the season when they shocked Bradford PA 2-0, while seven days ago they drew 1-1 at Nuneaton Town.

“We’ve got North Ferriby at home on Saturday and it’s probably the worst time to play them,” reckons Wright, whose team drew 0-0 at Tamworth.

“They’ve picked up a bit, but they are well and truly dead and buried. They will be playing for pride.

“They’ll enjoy playing in front of a big crowd, but we’ve got to be at it.”

Darlington are 13th, nine points above the relegation zone with eight matches to play, though most teams beneath them have games in hand.

“I don’t think we are safe yet and I don’t want the boys to think we are,” added Wright.

“When we were losing games I didn’t think we would get relegated and I still don’t, but I don’t want the lads to settle for being safe and we spoke about it before the game on Tuesday.

“We want to finish the season on a high, we owe it to our supporters. We need to do something to get the fans to come back next year, and I think if we go into next year with a bit of momentum the fans will back us.”