HAVING seen his team fail to win any of their last four matches, manager Martin Gray knows Darlington must be back on form when they face Salford City.

The team who were promoted alongside Quakers last season provide the opposition for Darlington’s final league match at Heritage Park on Saturday, and they will hope to stretch Darlington’s winless run.

Only in the 1-1 draw with AFC Fylde three weeks ago were Gray’s men anywhere near their best, defeats to Tamworth and Telford seeing disappointing performances, and they were not much better in last Sunday’s FA Trophy tie.

That was a 2-2 draw with Marine, who are entrenched in the lower half of the division Darlington won last season.

“It’s a going to be a day when everybody has to be on top of their game,” said Gray, ahead of facing a Salford side who have improved of late and are now seventh, four points behind Quakers.

“In the last couple of matches we’ve had two, three or four players below par, but you can’t afford to do that, especially against the top teams, because they will punish you.

“We have to get back to having 11 players on top of their game, it’s as simple as that.”

The draw with Marine saw Darlington miss a welter of chances, and poor defending proved costly.

Gray added: “Even though we should’ve scored goals, we want an improvement on Sunday that’s for sure.

“We’ve got to defend our box better and attack the opposition box better.

“We need to be better in both boxes and put in big performances.

“You’d expect players to raise their game for a fixture like this, as Salford will do as well. That should happen naturally.

“It’ll come down to which team has 11 players at their best, as well as keeping their discipline and being the best in both boxes – those three things are key to this week’s game.”

With Kevin Burgess available after missing out last Sunday due to illness and Liam Hardy having not started any of the last six fixtures, Gray is likely to make changes to his starting XI, but he is not giving much away.

“We’ve got the opportunity to make changes if we want,” he said. “We want to put our strongest team out to win the game.”

Hardy scored a dramatic injury-time winner when Salford visited Heritage Park in March, Quakers winning 3-2 just weeks after enjoying a 4-3 victory at Moor Lane, when Nathan Cartman snatched a late goal.

“They weren’t planned to be dramatic, but they turned out well for us,” said Gray.

“We’re looking for a more controlled and disciplined performance on Saturday, that’s for sure.”

Quakers could yet play at Heritage Park again if they beat Marine in Tuesday’s Trophy replay and require a replay against Stockport County in the next round.

  • Darlington RFC will play the first match at Blackwell Meadows since facilities at the venue were improved in preparation for Darlington FC’s move later this month.

After raising money through supporters and applying for grants, Quakers have invested around £500,000 on two new stands, changing rooms and turnstiles.

However, it is the rugby team that has the honour of playing there first, and they take on Redcar on Monday evening (7pm).

A statement on Darlington RFC’s website yesterday read: “The first team take to the new pitch on Monday night under the floodlights and with our new stands –you can even sit or stand all around the pitch! Hot food and a full selection of beers available.”

Admission is £3.