POSTPONEMENTS and promotion is the story of Darlington’s thrilling season, which culminated in winning the Northern Premier League title with over 100 points.

They finished on 104, pushed all the way by Blyth Spartans, who ended on 99 and for a long time led the way, but there is no disputing Darlington were worthy champions.

They beat both Blyth and third-placed Salford City home and away, only one team in the division – Stourbridge – did not lose to Quakers at least once, and they won 33 of their 46 games, more than any other team in the NPL’s history.

Martin Gray’s men managed all of this despite cramming their final nine fixtures into 22 days.

Hamstrung by Heritage Park’s drainage problems, eight home games were waterlogged off while three away fixtures were postponed, leading to a crammed schedule which threatened Darlington’s chances of finishing in the sole automatic promotion place.

Yet, with careful preparation and recovery between games, as well as canny team selection, Quakers fought off the fatigue to put together a run of 14 wins in 15 games, finally taking the title on a remarkable night at Whitby Town.

In his fourth season as manager, during which time he has overseen three promotions, including one through the play-offs 12 months ago, Gray describes this season as his greatest challenge.

He said: “FC United won the division last year with 92 points, the year before Colywn Bay had 97. Ourselves and Blyth pushed each other all the way. Credit to Blyth, there were a lot of good teams in that top six, all much of a muchness.

“But we put an unbelievable run together, winning 14 out of 15 games. To have to put that run together to win the league, at any level, is a big ask, certainly with our games coming in a short space of time.

“It’s definitely been my biggest challenge as a manager, there was so much against us.

“When we were 14 points behind Blyth it felt like it was getting more and more difficult.

“We’ve had a change behind the scenes at the club, and we had so many games called off.

“We’d catch up Blyth with a win, then we’d have a postponement, so Blyth would pull away again. It was like that all the way through, always having to catch them.

“The amount of time you spend on the phone making arrangements, sorting out training and rearranging games, the emotions you go through. It’s been tough, really tough.”

“I’m very proud. I’ve been here since 1999 as a player. The longer you’re here the more you fall in love with the club and I know how much it means to the fans.”

Although supporting a semi-pro club these days, for lifelong Darlington supporters the team’s fortunes mean as much now as they ever did, which is why the extraordinary 7-1 victory at Whitby will rank alongside wins at Welling and Wembley as being among fans’ most cherished memories.

In the penultimate match of the season, due to Quakers’ superior goal difference, a point would effectively have been enough to seal promotion. But being the team’s third game inside five days made it tough to call.

Yet after only ten minutes of one of the most amazing Darlington games in living memory, they were 3-0 up. It was 6-0 at half-time and the promotion party had begun.

Gray said: “I wanted to win the last two matches, I didn’t want to draw with Whitby, but I didn’t expect to win like that, it’s got to be up there with the Trophy final.

“We got the first goal quickly and everything fell into place after that. The quality of our play and the balls into the box were outstanding.

“I asked the players to be positive and I’m always the same, no matter who we’re playing against, I say take the game to them because we believe in what we do.

“I think we had five chances and scored five goals. There were not many times when we did not look like scoring.”

Gray was held shoulder-high by supporters at the Turnbull Ground, and after celebrating his third promotion – “they get better every year” – he now ranks alongside Brian Little as being the only two Darlington managers to have won two titles.

Little’s came in the early 1990s, when taking the club into what is now known as League One, with back-to-back promotions from the Conference.

The National League, as the Conference is called these days, is the next level up for Gray, though the National League North represents another step up for Quakers’ players and management.

“It’s not going to be a lot different from this season in terms of travelling, maybe a few trips will be half-an-hour or 45 minutes longer, but it’s what we wanted, we’re going into a league we want to be in,” added Gray.

“We want to challenge again and have another good go.”

The National League will be another challenge for Gray and his players to meet.

Not so long ago they locked horns with Hebburn and co in the Northern League, yet they now go into a division featuring some of non-league’s bigger names, such as Stockport County and Bradford Park Avenue.

Curzon Ashton and FC United, the teams Quakers are following into the division from the NPL, are positioned tenth and 13th respectively, but while the opposition will be tougher, it’s the club’s return home which shall also make next season special.

After four seasons out of town at Bishop Auckland’s Heritage Park, Quakers are looking forward to returning to Darlington at Blackwell Meadows, where they will share with Darlington Rugby Club.

“We could not have asked for a better end to the season before going back to Darlington.

“Hopefully we’ll be back around August/September time,” said Gray.

“The town will be buzzing, people will be buying season tickets, we’ve got some other positive news to come soon, so these pieces of the jigsaw are coming together.

“There’s been lots of hardship for the football club since I’ve became involved in 1999, so it’s nice that we’re now getting rewarded for all of the hard work that has been put in.”