DARLINGTON are optimistic that this evening they will play their first home game for 80 days when Whitby Town visit Heritage Park.

“If there’s ever going to be a game played then this is it,” said Quakers boss Martin Gray, whose team have seen six successive home games called off due to the weather. “We’re a bit more optimistic that we have been recently.

“Everyone is desperate for a game, we’re bursting to play.”

There is no standing water on the pitch, while temperatures were not forecast to be freezing last night or today, giving many supporters hope of finally seeing their team in action at home for the first time since October 31.

Darlington have since playing six away matches during their weather-interrupted season.

Saturday’s fixture at Frickley Athletic was one eight postponements they have suffered stretching back to November 7, during what’s turned into something of an enforced winter break, as the team dropped to sixth.

Darlington were not the only club affected at the weekend, however, with only one fixture in the Evo-Stik Premier Division surviving.

The good news is, having hardly played, manager Martin Gray has an almost full squad to choose from, with only long-term absentee Amar Purewal unavailable.

The only question mark is whether he recalls Tom Portas, though Leon Scott has been doing a sterling job alongside Phil Turnbull in the centre of midfield.

Gray will need as many options as possible in the weeks to come, given that his team are facing a schedule of almost two games a week for the remainder of the season.

With 14 Saturdays remaining and the same number of midweek dates, Darlington have 25 league matches still to play, tonight’s game the first of 14 remaining home fixtures.

Landlords Bishop Auckland have 12 home league fixtures, while there is the possibility of even more Heritage Park games as each team remains in one cup competition each.

Darlington’s last home fixture was a cup encounter – a win over Mossley in the FA Trophy three months ago - and the 80-day break that has followed is longer than the length of time between last season’s play-off final against Bamber Bridge and the first home friendly of this campaign against Sunderland.

And, by one day, the current run beats the period Darlington endured between matches at Feethams in the 1962-63 season, from December 22 to March 11, when one of the coldest winters on record hit the United Kingdom.

Having waited such a long time to see their team play, fans would be cheered this evening with a home win in a fixture against opposition struggling in the relegation zone.