A POTENTIALLY pivotal week for Darlington gets underway this evening with a fixture at Frickley the first of three games inside five days.

After tonight they are at Heritage Park on Thursday to face Nantwich Town, before being back on the road with a trip to at Grantham on Saturday.

After these three games, Quakers then have three back-to-back home fixtures against opposition in the bottom half of the table, so collecting points this week would significantly bolster promotion hopes. 

Blyth Spartans last night won 4-0 at struggling Hyde United, extending their lead to seven points and making it five wins in a row.

Darlington want to extend their own winning run which stands at eight matches following Saturday’s 2-0 home win over Sutton Coldfield Town, when Quakers were not at their best, but Stephen Thompson may have played his back into the starting XI having made an impact as a substitute.

Martin Gray dropped him following a below par display seven days earlier against Halesowen, when Thompson was subbed at the break, but the manager was pleased the player’s response.

He said: “We’ve always said how important the squad is over the course of the season and on Saturday we had another example with Thompson coming on.

“He produced a bit of quality and a great pass for Nathan Cartman to score.

“He’ll have wanted to prove a point to me and that’s the reaction I was looking for.

“He always responds in the right way, they all do. They’re all in it together and you can’t knock them for their mentality.”

The Northern Echo:

SUPER SUB: Darlington maanger Martin Gray was pleased with the impact Stephen Thompson (left) made as a substitute on Saturday. Picture: STUART BOULTON

With so many games to fit in – the last eight will come inside 19 days – Gray has been adjusting his team selection accordingly, resting players when possible, although doctor’s orders meant Gary Brown was unable to feature on Saturday having been concussed a week earlier.

Frickley are tenth in the table but Blyth 3-2 away in February and boast with a formidable recent home record.

The West Yorkshire club are unbeaten in seven at Westfield Lane, conceding only one in that period, although Darlington’s away form is equally impressive, winning eight out of their last nine on the road.

They have scored 14 in their last three away games, most recently a fortnight ago at Nantwich Town where they won 5-0, Nathan Cartman scoring twice.

He was substituted before he had chance to complete his hat-trick, though the striker says he understands Gray’s approach.

“I understand why he brings me off and so does everybody else when they get subbed,” he said.

“It’s not just about me, there’s three other strikers here.

“But twice I’ve been on hat-tricks! Those games were gone though, so it was okay, I’ll try again on Tuesday.”

Saturday’s goal, an uncharacteristic effort from outside the penalty area, was Cartman’s 19th of the season in all competitions, his 26th in 62 appearances since joining in January last year.

“I had a slow start at the club, but I’m slowly building up to where I want to be,” he said.

“I used to keep track of the ratio at Harrogate because it was one in one, it’s a bit different now. But it’s all about promotion, it’s not about how many goals I get even though it would be nice for me to get to 25.”

He added: “I hit one at Stamford from just inside the box, Saturday’s was just outside so that’s probably the furthest out I’ve scored. Normally I score inside the six-yard box.

“I could’ve played it to Tom Portas. I didn’t see him, but I could hear him screaming. We’d been doing a bit of finishing in training last Wednesday, so I thought I’ll have a pop here.

“Sutton had started getting the ball down and playing, so it was an important goal to kill them off.”