AYNSLEY PEARS will not play against his former Darlington team-mates when Middlesbrough play at Blackwell Meadows (1pm), but there will be plenty of connection between the two teams.

The goalkeeper made a good impression during his time loan in the second half of last season, and for a time this summer Quakers boss Tommy Wright considered bringing him back for the forthcoming campaign.

Zach Hemmings will in in goal for Boro, however there will be a familiar name in Middlesbrough’s squad in the form of Ben Liddle, son of Craig Liddle who played over 250 games for Darlington and is now Middlesbrough’s academy director.

Midfielder Ben, 19, signed his first professional contract with Boro in 2016, and in Darlington’s squad there are further connections.

After leaving Sunderland aged 18 in 2014, defender Jonny Burn spent three years with Boro without making a senior appearance, while Joe Wheatley, Stephen Thompson, assistant manager Alan White and goalkeeping coach Andy Collett were all in Boro's junior section in their youth.

Burn is from Darlington and has memories of watching his hometown team as a youngster and having spent last season with Bristol Rovers and York City, he now hopes to climb the leagues with Quakers.

“I used to watch Darlington when I was a little kid back in the Arena days,” he said. “I remember beating Rochdale in the play-offs at home, but then we got beat away. But then things went wrong for the club and they went down. Hopefully, with the squad we’ve got now, we can get back up the leagues.

“It’s something I’m looking forward to, playing for my hometown team. We’ve got great fans, I already know that from the days I used to watch, and they take a lot to away games.

“The trip to Eindhoven last week was great, the fans gave us a lot of support over there and hopefully we can give them something to shout about this season. It was great team bonding over there, all the lads enjoyed it, it was a great experience.”

Darlington’s trip to Eindhoven has been declared a success by all concerned, and helped bring the squad together, important given that six new signings have arrived adding to the new faces Wright brought in last season.

Burn had a brief loan spell with the club in 2012-13 when aged 17, an unused sub on the bench at Norton on Boxing Day.

He added: “I was still hoping to make it at Sunderland but didn’t get a professional contract there. I went to Middlesbrough after that and was offered a pro contract, I was there for three years and it was great.

“Joe Wheatley was there at the time, we won the under-23s league and I was captain, so that’s been the highlight of my career so far, and hopefully I can push on now.

“It was a shame I didn’t play for the first time at Middlesbrough, but I’m aiming now to push up the leagues and hopefully I can do that at Darlington.”

Although Matthew Bancroft and Jordan Nicholson have had minor knocks, Wright expects to have a full squad to choose from today, but there will again be no James Caton. The forward has a year remaining on his contract but remains on the transfer list and he was not in the annual team photograph taken on Thursday.