DARLINGTON play their penultimate pre-season friendly at Gateshead tomorrow evening at the International Stadium, a fixture which sees four members of Quakers’ Wembley team from 2000 on the sidelines.

The Heed are managed by Neil Aspin, who has rebuilt the squad this summer alongside assistant Lee Nogan, and both were team-mates of Gray and Brian Atkinson in the Quakers team of 1999-00.

They fell just short of automatic promotion, reaching Wembley in the play-off final and losing 1-0 to Peterborough United, with Aspin, Gray and Atkinson all starting and Nogan used as a substitute.

Sixteen years on and Aspin remains good friends with Gray, the Quakers boss saying: “Gateshead are a full-time team and will be well organised by Neil and Lee, two of my former Darlington team-mates, great friends of mine.

“I’m looking forward to coming up against Neil, he’s a great lad – I used to do all his heading for him!

“I’ve kept in touch with them since 2000, it was the most fantastic season. Unfortunately we lost at Wembley, but the team that David Hodgson put together was special and those two lads were a big part of it.”

Aspin is into his third management role having also been in charge at Harrogate Town and Halifax Town.

“He’s done well in non-league management and I’m pleased to see him in full-time management, it’s well-deserved. He’s done really well with Harrogate and Halifax,” added Gray.

“He knows the non-league scene very well, he has a good scouting network and knows the scene up here. He’s brought in 13 or 14 players at Gateshead, he’s doing things his own way and that’s how he will be judged, which is how we all are judged.”

Tomorrow's game again sees Quakers’ semi-pro side up against a full-time outfit.

Inside the past week they have had varying results when facing teams from Newcastle United and Sunderland, Gray being pleased with his team’s performance against the Black Cats on Tuesday.

Quakers won 2-0 three days after losing 5-1 to a youthful Magpies team, and Gray said: “It was important after conceding five goals in a game – it had been a long, long time since that has happened to me – that we got back to a workmanlike mentality.

“We did that on Tuesday and with that came a clean sheet. Sunderland had three or four lads in the team that have played Premier League football, so it was good for our lads to challenge themselves. It was a good occasion for us to get back to what we’re about.”

Darlington have now played five friendlies, and have arranged another to be played at their Peterlee training ground behind closed doors a week on Saturday.

On pre-season so far, Gray said: “It’s been okay, steady away. Apart from the real disappointment on Saturday, which was hardly a tragedy, it’s been okay. Fitness levels are reasonably good, no injuries in terms of muscle strains or pulls.

“Lads are getting towards playing 70-80 minutes each now, we’ve got another game on Friday plus I’ve organised a behind closed doors game for next week.”

There will be no Phil Turnbull tomorrow. The Darlington midfielder, a favourite for almost a decade at Gateshead before leaving a year ago, is on holiday.

With Aspin having instigated a clear-out, Ryan Bowman is the only former Quakers player still with the Tyneside club with Jamie Chandler, Rob Ramshaw (both Spennymoor Town) and Sam Russell (Forest Green Rovers) all having moved on this summer.

Striker Bowman, 24, was with Darlington in 2011-12 and found the net 20 times last season.