REVIEW OF THE SEASON: Darlington's season of consolidation

The team finished 12th, yet that it can be considered a satisfactory conclusion says much for the upheaval in the 12 months previously.

A win on the opening day at title favourites Salford City was the first of three in a row, when a mid-table finish was certainly not the aim, particularly having finished fifth the previous season.

The fourth fixture was a 0-0 draw at York City. And then the wheels fell off.

Darlington went into freefall for a lengthy period of time during which Martin Gray resigned as manager, Tommy Wright replaced him and the team headed for the lower reaches of the table.

A club that had known little other than success since 2012 were in trouble between mid-August and late-January, winning only three of 26 games, with the rot having set in under Gray.

He relied heavily on Mark Beck, last season’s top scorer and player of the year. But the gangly striker was carrying an injury, while summer signing Scott Fenwick – now banging in the goals in the National League South for Chelmsford – was hardly given a chance before being allowed to leave.

Summer signing James Caton failed to reproduce the form he had shown in pre-season, while Gray was unable to rectify the defensive issues that dogged Darlington in 2016-17.

His summer recruitment did not match previous years. He usually acted soon after the season had ended, before rivals could pounce, but it was not the same in 2017 with Dom Collins the only early arrival, while Josh Falkingham left for full-time Harrogate Town.

Fenwick arrived later, as did Jordan Richards, who didn’t play at all before being released and joining Fylde, and there was former Boro youngster Bradley Fewster too. He joined on trial and appeared in the team photo, but then signed for Spennymoor Town.

Perhaps Gray had been stymied by finances - supporters split their fundraising between a Boost the Budget scheme as well as paying for a new pitch. Or maybe his dalliance with Raj Singh had been too great a distraction.

Gray felt that exclusion from the play-offs at the end of 2016-17, due to failing to meet ground grading criteria, gave him enough justification for inviting Teesside businessman Singh to return to the club that he led as chairman when Quakers suffered financial meltdown in 2012.

Some supporters, though not all, reacted angrily to the prospect of a second coming and Singh soon changed his mind, leaving Gray to plough on.

But after the promising start Gray’s team endured a run of only one win in 11 games, including a humiliating 3-0 defeat at home to South Shields in the FA Cup.

A fortnight later, on October 1, Gray was gone. He resigned and turned up at York City, leaving Quakers to make their first managerial appointment since 2012.

He had taken charge when Darlington had only two players and in four seasons guided the club to three promotions, but the dalliance with Singh meant his relationship with some supporters had soured irrevocably.

The new boss was Wright, twice with the club in his playing days as a striker and aged 33 on his appointment but no managerial novice having previously been in charge at Corby and Nuneaton Town with varying degrees of achievement.

Darlington were 12th when Wright arrived in mid-October but there was no lift associated with a new manager, no upturn in results. Quakers won only once in his first 12 games.

Having started a poor run under Gray, Quakers continued to drop like a stone. In January they were 20th and relegation was a fear.

The low point was a 3-1 loss at Gainsborough - a performance Wright has since described as “disgusting” - after which he spent time placating disgruntled fans on the terraces.

In that respect he has proven to be a breath of fresh air. Wright engages with supporters, an honest and upbeat manner allowing fans to warm to him, as does a sense of adventure in his preferred tactics.

He was initially eager to operate with wing-backs and three at the back, which worked for him at Nuneaton, and even brought in two wingbacks he had previously - Luke Trotman and Ben O’Hanlon – and both have improved Quakers’ side.

While performances were generally fine, it is results that matter and a crucial one came on January 27: Leamington 2, Darlington 3.

Club hero Stephen Thompson completed a hat-trick with a dramatic last-minute winner, Quakers recovering from 2-1 down in what was Wright’s 13th game. One wonders if there’d have been a 14th had Darlington lost.

He admitted at the time: “That was massive for us. It will lift a lot of people. It’s not all doom and gloom, I’ve tried banging the drum on that, but it’s hard for people to relate to that when we’re not getting the results.”

Thompson’s first goal was a penalty won by Reece Styche, a wily striker who has been Wright’s best signing, scoring 13 goals in 22 appearances and becoming a cult hero.

Talismanic and charismatic, his best moment came in January during a 2-2 draw with Chorley, a game only played because supporters spent the morning clearing snow from the Blackwell Meadows pitch.

Styche granted a request from a supporter to dive into a mound of snow at the side of the pitch when celebrating scoring that day, and as a consequence won a competition ran by a betting firm for the best non-league goal celebration. The prize is £20,000 plus a money-spinning friendly game at Blackwell against a team of former Premier League players this summer.

Styche had replaced Beck who moved to Harrogate Town, one of several exits that meant Wright’s job became tougher than anticipated, goalkeeper Adam Bartlett and left-back David Ferguson following Gray to York.

Furthermore, Wright had decided there was no place in his first XI for Liam Marrs or Kevin Burgess, neither of which featured much after his first game on the sidelines.

All of which made for mid-season upheaval, Wright having to rebuild the team and bring in replacements, almost all of which have improved the squad.

Beanpole defender Josh Heaton has excelled since being given his chance, and will look to impress when he goes on trial at the Jamie Vardy Academy later this summer, as will Trotman and Joe Wheatley.

All three are youngsters looking to reclaim a place in the professional game, while 17-year-old Mitchell Glover, another Wright recruit, has spent time on trial with Championship clubs.

Glover made his first start during March, a 1-0 success against Curzon, in a game also notable for being the first after Darlington opened their new extended stand, costing £150,000 and financed by fans. There will no longer be concerns over having sufficient covered seats.

Quakers marked the occasion with 1-0 victory, Dave Syers contributing one of his eight goals this season, during a purple patch of eight wins in 12 matches that lifted Darlington away from danger.

Having been 19th before Leamington, by the end of March Darlington were tenth and sniffing an outside chance of the play-offs.

The prospect of finishing in the top seven was not given much credence, it appeared too big a task, and so it proved. However, few anticipated so many teams above Quakers suffering such a collapse in form – particularly poor in the closing weeks were York, Blyth and Spennymoor.

A 2-1 win at the Brewery Field on April 19, with Styche scoring again, continued Quakers run of good results against Spennymoor stretching back to 2012, but it was also Darlington’s final win of the season.

They finished eight points adrift of the top seven having occasionally dropped points in recent months.

However, as Wright has pointed out, there were times his side snatched points in the dying seconds – for example, in back-to-back weeks they beat Kidderminster and Curzon with late goals – and all clubs can point to ifs, buts and maybes.

Not playing in the play-offs is no failure. Wright did well to guide a newly-formed team, a work in progress, into mid-table obscurity, which is a novel concept given the club’s ups and downs in recent years.

A season of consolidation has done no harm. Gray’s October exit was the culmination of months of instability following the play-off exclusion and the Singh talks, the upheaval tested the resolve of all concerned.

Darlington have passed that test, successfully coming through a transitional stage leaving fans eagerly looking forward to what season 2018-19 may bring.