HAVING finally played their first game of the year, Darlington hope Tuesday’s match will help to ensure they are up to speed when they take on Colwyn Bay tomorrow.

Quakers drew 2-2 with Whitby Town in midweek, a disappointing result given the Seasiders’ lowly position in the Evo-Stik Premier Division.

They are fourth bottom, one place above tomorrow’s visitors against whom Darlington manager Martin Gray wants to see an improvement in his team.

He believed Quakers did enough to secure three points on Tuesday, but the manager made some allowances having not played for three weeks due to postponements.

“It was a game under the belt and, hopefully, as a group we’ll better for it come Saturday,” said Gray.

“It was a point in the right direction, but in my opinion two points dropped and we’ve got to make sure we get a win on Saturday.

“We’ve got to get back to winning ways. We’ve had two wins and a draw, but we should’ve had three wins out of three, there’s no question about that.

“It was a performance more than good enough over the 90 minutes to get a win. Whitby had two chances all game and scored two goals.”

Darlington started the contest in a 4-4-2 formation, but soon changed shape to 4-3-3 and at half-time winger Adam Mitchell was replaced by Tom Portas.

Soon after the restart Graeme Armstrong replaced Nathan Cartman in the frontline.

Gray added: “We changed it after 15 minutes. We put Mitchell in midfield to match up with their three and Stephen Thompson up front to match their back three, and I felt at that stage, after ten or 15 minutes, we got into the game.

“There were reasons for the change. We felt we could’ve attacked better from midfield, but we didn’t make things any better or worse. You try things as a manager, sometimes they come off and sometimes they don’t.”

On Cartman’s early withdrawal, Gray explained: “A few players looked a bit rusty.

“You have to expect it. People sometimes expect miracles, but you have to look at the bigger picture – we hadn’t played at home for 80 days.

“People got frustrated, but you expect that because it was two points dropped.”

Whitby boss Chris Hardy was delighted to pick up a point in his fourth game – two draws, one win, one defeat - since being appointed in December after leaving Guisborough Town.

"I don't think many teams are going to go there and pick points up,” Hardy told Whitby’s official website.

"I thought, first half, we maybe let ourselves down a little bit.

"We took the lead and didn't really go about our business in the correct manner- it gave Darlington a lot of momentum on the back of that.

"We made some changes through talking at half time.

"I thought we were really at it, second half, we pushed the game, we controlled the game for big parts.

"Darlington remained a threat, as they were always going to be and we even had a chance to take all three points.

"We put in a real solid shift, from one to eleven and beyond, but a draw was maybe a fair result."

Meanwhile, former Darlington manager Brian Little has been appointed Jersey manager until the end of the season.

Little, 62, has been Jersey's director of football since November 2014.

“When I get on the training ground with the lads I'm hoping it will give them a push in the right direction,” Little said.

“I’m a professional football coach, so there'll be slightly different methods and ways of putting things across, which I hope will help.”

He was Quakers boss from February 1989 until the summer of 1991, when he left to become Leicester City manager having led Darlington to promotion in consecutive seasons from the Conference and Division Four.

In a lengthy managerial career, Little has also held positions at Aston Villa, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Hull City, Tranmere Rovers, Wrexham and Gainsborough Trinity.