DARLINGTON finally returned to town a fortnight ago when they played their historic first match at Blackwell Meadows and today it’s the turn of long-serving Stephen Thompson to celebrate reaching a significant milestone.

Four years and four months since signing from Durham City, this afternoon against Nuneaton Town the forward will make his landmark 200th appearance for Quakers.

He has long since earned a place in club’s history books and supporters’ hearts with a string of match-winning performances and spectacular goals – a high proportion of his 69 goals in black and white having come from outside the penalty area.

He has been part of three promotion-winning teams and continues to make a substantial contribution to Quakers as he is rarely out of Martin Gray’s first XI.

“He’s got better and has grown with the club,” said Gray, who gave Thompson his debut as a substitute in a 1-0 win over Newton Aycliffe at Heritage Park in September 2012.

“He’s been fantastic and one of the special things in the first game at Blackwell was that we had players playing who have been with us all the way.

“Thommo played a massive part in that first season and has been with us since then to the point that we’re now back in the town.”

Thompson, 27, becomes the first of the players to have joined the club since the summer of 2012 to reach a double century of appearances, with Terry Galbraith, Leon Scott and Gary Brown all well into triple figures too.

While the long-range goals have become less frequent, though his trademark shots continue to carry a threat to opposition goalkeepers, Gray explained how Thompson has upped his game during his time with the club.

He said: “He’s won us many games with his bits of brilliance and he’s improved as a player.

“As good as he was at being positive and winning games with spectacular goals, he now knows the game and is more of a team player rather than individual.

“We’ve never wanted to take away any of the strengths of his game as an attack-minded player, but we’ve always asked more from him in terms of off the ball. You can’t just be a one-trick pony and attack all the time. You’ve got to think about the team and he’s bought into that.

“The level has gone up almost every season, it’s become more of a challenge, and it’s become just as important what he does off the ball as on the ball.

“He’s a tough bugger as well. He’s not a typical wide player that can go missing if he gets a kick, he will come back, he’s very competitive.

“There’s things to improve on and that’s the best thing about him, he wants to be better and that says something for his character.”

Gray stopped short of saying Thompson has been his best signing, a status he is unlikely to publicly bestow on a player given the manager’s team ethic, but he does believe Thompson could have played full-time football.

He was a junior at Middlesbrough, but was released before playing a first-team game and after spells with Port Vale and Telford he joined Durham in 2010.

“He’s been one of the best signings. We’ve had a lot of good players that have been with us and he’s up there,” said Gray.

“If I’d got hold of him when he was 20 or 21-years-old and been given a chance to work with him then for sure he would’ve played higher. He’s someone that could certainly have played in the Football League. It’s the same with other players like Gary Brown and Kevin Burgess – I’ve managed worse players who have made a full-time career out of the game.

“We’ve got a handful of players that could’ve played in the Football League given the opportunity. It comes down the rub of the green, a manager taking a chance on them or being a bit more patient, whatever it may be. Different managers have different opinions.”

Thompson made his 199th appearance in the 2-2 draw at FC Halifax Town on New Year’s Day, a game Gray has watched on dvd having been unable to attend as he was getting married.

“I’ve had a good look at the game, I’ve watched it twice,” he said.

“Halifax started well, we dominated long spells of the second half. Playing down their place, Halifax were always going to have a good spell and they went ahead again.

“Apart from that, we did enough to win the game. But we’ve still taken four points over Christmas from two games against a team who were two divisions above us last season.”

Tommy Wright’s Nuneaton, meanwhile, come into the contest on the back of six successive wins including a Christmas double over promotion-chasing Tamworth.