Surprise results elsewhere in the division in recent weeks have reaffirmed Darlington’s belief that automatic promotion remains firmly within their grasp, despite their own dip in form.

They have lost five of their last ten games, a poor run that has dissolved their once strong position in the promotion race, but this weekend is an opportunity to return to the top of the table as they contest two games in three days.

Tomorrow they face Prescot Cables at Heritage Park and on Monday Quakers travel to New Mills.

Both opposition teams are in the bottom three of the table, but Prescot demonstrated the potential for unpredictability when they recently held Spennymoor Town to a draw, while a fortnight ago leaders Salford City suffered a surprise setback by losing 2-0 at home to mid-table Lancaster City.

Such results, says Quakers forward Stephen Thompson, as well as Darlington’s own disappointing defeats to the likes of Clitheroe and Kendal, suggests that first place remains up for grabs.

“First position is still there for us, why not,” said Thompson. “I know who Salford have got to play yet, but anybody can beat anybody else in this league and that’s been proven recently.

“Lancaster beat Salford, and then we went and beat Lancaster 3-0. There’s still eight or nine games left, there’s a lot of football to be played.

“We’ve got to keep battling and try to win every game. Everyone’s got to stay positive – if the fans turn against us what chance are we going to have?

“There’s still 27 points left to play for, we could wine every game, Salford could drop points, anything can happen.”

Last weekend saw Northwich Victoria draw level with second-placed Darlington by winning 1-0 at Heritage Park, a match in which the Cheshire visitors scored early and then proceeded to put the emphasis on defence by stifling Quakers.

“I don’t think we’re playing badly. On Saturday we played alright, we were just up against a well-organised team,” added Thompson.

“In our previous game [a 3-0 win over Lancaster] we played well, and even at Clitheroe on a terrible pitch they got two lucky goals and apart from that they didn’t really test us.

“It’s about what happens in both boxes. Against Lancaster we were good in both boxes, against Northwich maybe we weren’t as good.

“We didn’t really test their keeper. They did the same last year against us, they went 1-0 up and then defended. They’re a well-organised team and we couldn’t break them down.

“We had a few openings in the first half, but nothing dropped for us.

“It hurts when we lose. All the lads in the changing room really hurt after last Saturday.

“Northwich came for a draw. They played with five at the back from the start, got a goal and then defended. They hung on and in the end we had three at the back and they had six or seven.

“It’s hard, but we’ve just got to get on with it.”

Manager Martin Gray will restore Alan White to the line-up tomorrow when Quakers play a team that the centre-back scored against when Quakers beat Prescot 2-0 in October.

Prescot, third bottom, have won only one of their last 12 games, though last season they twice held Darlington to draws.