Darlington go in hunt of their 100th goal of the season this evening as they bid to build on their 18-point lead at the top of the Ebac Northern League.

They reached 98 goals for the campaign with last Friday's impressive 3-1 win at Spennymoor Town when Quakers fought back from going 1-0 down and being second best for the first half an hour.

Goals from Terry Galbraith, David Dowson and Adam Nicholls earned the points as Darlington recorded a sixth successive win - they aim for a seventh against Penrith at Heritage Park.

"It was a great night to beat the champions who were unbeaten," said manager Martin Gray, who hopes Craig Gott will overcome an injury in time to start.

"Nobody's won the league, but we've put ourselves into a position that means we can challenge Spennymoor for it. It was important not to get beat, so it was a great to win.

"But we've just won another game, that's all. That game's over now, the most important one is Penrith on Wednesday and I'm expecting the same performance - I demand that from the players.

"It was a big occasion on Friday, we got through it with a win and it was a proud night for the club."

Gott sustained an ankle injury in the 90th minute on Friday after a tackle by Lewis Dodds.

He was substituted by Jonny Davis, who is on stand-by for the match against fourth-bottom Penrith, a club which on Monday appointed former Barrow midfielder Matt Henney as manager.

He replaced Billy Williams, who was in charge when Quakers won 4-1 at a rain-soaked Penrith in October.

Among the scorers that night was Stephen Thompson, Quakers' play-maker and man of the match against Spennymoor.

Gray said: "Tommo's awkward to play against and he's a fantastically talented player.

"He could play at a lot higher level of football and his quality shone through the longer the game went on.

"For the last goal he ran 60 or 70 yards and unselfishly pulled the ball back and it ends up with a great finish from Adam Nicholls."

Nicholls' arrival as a substitute was one of two timely changes by Gray because a pass from another replacement, Steven Johnson, set up Dowson's goal.

"It's always pleasing when players listen to you and go on to do a job," said Gray, whose team can create a 21-point advantage should they win as Spennymoor, who host Penrith on Saturday, are at Celtic Nation in the Northern League Cup this evening.

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