WELL, we’re here. It’s the last Tuesday of the season and it’s the first opportunity for us to seal the league title. Of course, that depends on how Blyth do at home to Rushall but after Sunday’s game at the Brewery Field against Stamford, I’m just about ready to believe that the stars are aligning in our favour.

Considering Stamford are in the bottom four of the league and looking pretty good for relegation, in our two games, they have been a plucky opposition who wouldn’t lie down. When Phil Turnbull went off early on, Stamford seemed to make the most of the reorganising going on within our ranks.

When they took the lead, the old ‘Darlo are going to mess this up’ default thought could have begun rattling around in the supporters’ minds. However, this is a new Darlo. They are a team of winners, not losers. When they go behind, they don’t wallow in pity, they figure out how to get back in control of the game. That’s why we’re top of the league and have a very impressive 98 points from 43 games.

While most fans in the league coo over Blyth and think that Robbie Dale is some sort of non-league Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Darlo have quietly got on with their business, relentlessly clawing back the lead built up by the self-titled “most famous non-league football side in the world”.

Just like Sunday’s game, in the league we’ve turned a losing position around and made it a winning one. We’re now in the last ten minutes and we need to see the game out.

Some people believe in fate. Some don’t. Whether it was the Jameson last-ditch tackle in the first half, the Stamford one-on-one that was dragged wide in the second half or that miss in injury time, I’m starting to believe that this is our year. They may be primed for relegation but one thing Stamford haven’t struggle with this season is scoring goals. That they didn’t take their chances is surely a sign the footballing gods like what they’ve seen of Darlo this season.

And so we move on to tonight. Unlike Sunday, Grantham have nothing to play for; they’re safe. Like Sunday however, you know they’re going to come up here looking to do you know what on our parade. They’ll be sat on their coach for three hours psyching themselves up looking to show up the mighty Darlo. With that in mind, we need to be strong, relentless and clinical. We have form for all three.

If Blyth were to slip up and we secure the win, the title is ours. I’ve got to be honest and say that while I would love to see us win the title on home turf, I just can’t see it happening. Blyth have not been the most obliging title rivals. Hell, we have 98 points and we’ve still not won the league! We’ve got to assume that Blyth win tonight and as such, that’s what we’ve got to do.

We may have the best home record in the league by some margin but tonight’s game will be the toughest of the lot. We need to pack out Heritage Park as though it was a playoff game. We need to make even more noise than we did when chasing goals against Spennymoor or Salford. We need to make every player feel like they’re ten foot tall - even Nathan Cartman.

If we win tonight, we may not necessarily get to lift the trophy just yet but our finger prints will be all over it in anticipation. Come on Darlo!