TWO days after seeing their winning run come to an abrupt halt, Darlington bid start a new one this evening at Heritage Park.

Only 48 hours after losing 3-1 win at Frickley Athletic, a result which ended the team’s sequence of eight wins in a row, they take on Nantwich Town with the aim again being to cut Blyth Spartans’ seven-point lead.

The Northern Premier League table suggests Darlington retain the advantage as they have three games in hand – win all seven of their remaining fixtures and Quakers finish first.

They have a compact schedule to contend with, however, and Tuesday’s defeat means there is little room for error.

Darlington reconvened last night for a recovery training session in preparation for this evening, when Quakers will face a team they beat 5-0 a fortnight ago, and manager Martin Gray says they will be ready to go again following Tuesday’s setback.

“We were disappointed after the game because, like all football managers and players, you take defeat badly and so you should,” said the boss, who is optimistic that Gary Brown will be available to return to the defence.

“But these players are so resilient and positive. By the time they got home on Tuesday night and off the bus everyone was so looking forward to Thursday, me more than anybody, I can’t wait for it.”

Despite the scoreline, Gray was satisfied with the first hour of play on Tuesday during which time Graeme Armstrong gave Quakers the lead, while Terry Galbraith missed a retaken penalty.

His first attempt had been ruled out for encroachment into the penalty area by team-mate Leon Scott, a decision which infuriated Gray.

He said: “We should’ve gone 4-0 up before they scored. We scored a penalty, but the referee was a disgrace making us retake it.

“There was no shot to follow up, the ball went straight into the net. He said players had encroached into the area, yes they might have done, but the ball did not rebound to anyone. As the ball has gone straight in, there had been no disadvantage to anyone.

“If you’re going to retake that one then every penalty would be taken twice, but the referee was poor for both teams.

“That would’ve made it 1-0, then Graeme scored, then Lee Gaskell had an unbelievable chance for 3-0. At the start of the second half their keeper made a save with his legs which he didn’t know anything about, but it was a great strike by Graeme.

“That should’ve been 4-0 at a time when Frickley hadn’t even had a shot.

“In other games we would’ve scored those four goals, that’s the difference.”

Gray added: “There’s no need for panic, it’s business as usual, because the performance for the first hour was as good as we’ve had for the last few months.

“We just need to take our chances, we need to be better in both boxes.”

Tenth-placed Nantwich have had the same amount of time to recover as they also played on Tuesday, drawing 3-3 at home to Rushall Olympic.