PLAYING at home to Altrincham, the division’s bottom team with only one win to their name all season, means nothing less than three points will do today for Darlington.

That’s the frank admission from manager Martin Gray, whose team’s own patchy form pales in comparison with that of today’s visitors.

Altrincham have lost 21 of their 28 league fixtures, leaving them 18 points from safety and likely to suffer a second successive relegation.

Their draw with Darlington on the opening day of the season stands as one of six drawn matches, a 2-0 success at second-bottom Stalybridge Celtic in October being their only league win, and Gray admitted: “If you don’t win these games then you don’t deserve to be in the play-offs.

“It’s no good going to Chorley last week and getting a point if you then get nothing at home.

“If you want to be in contention for a play-off place these games have to be won, because if they’re not then you’re not doing yourselves any favours at all.”

Quakers have won only twice in 12 league matches, last week’s draw at Chorley seeing them slip to seventh, three points behind the play-offs, but Gray pointed out: “There’s still so much to play for.

“It’s a financial opportunity for the club, it’s a chance for the lads to play in the play-offs, that’s their goal, and we’ve got 14 games to go. There are still 42 points to play for – a long way to go.”

Although buoyed by the performance at Chorley, a play-off rival, Gray remains frustrated by his team’s failure to capitalise on their ability to create chances.

Nathan Cartman and Dave Syers were both denied by goalkeeper Ritchie Branagan before the break, while the team had opportunities in the second half too at Victory Park.

“Even though our goal came from a scruffy set-piece, we created more chances from open play than we have for a few weeks,” said Gray.

“Their keeper was man of the match, but I still think our finishing should have been better. We created enough chances to win comfortably.

“I’ve watched the highlights and from Nathan’s chance early on to Dave Syers, who had one cleared off the line, Mark Beck and Stephen Thompson too, they all should have been goals.

“Three or four unbelievable chances in the first half and probably two or three one-on-one opportunities in the second half.”

Despite Darlington being the division’s second highest scorers – 61 goals in 28 games – Gray has occasionally bemoaned their profligacy, but he pointed out that efforts are being made to resolve the issue.

“We do work every week in training on finishing,” he said. “I took the wide players and forwards this week and we had 30 or 40 minutes on different scenarios.

“All you can do is keep putting in the practice so that it becomes natural and they become more confident when the chances come along.

“If we were in training every day we could it more during the week. But we do work on it at least once a week, as well as the defending.”

In response to the previous week’s 3-1 defeat to Curzon Ashton in Darlington’s last appearance at Blackwell Meadows, at Chorley Gray tried a 4-3-3 formation, a tactic he has previously used, and altering the personnel and working on the new shape in training paid dividends.

Both David Ferguson and Josh Falkingham slotted in well in the full-back positions, earning praise from the manager, who is likely to select an unchanged XI today.

He said: “Our two full-backs gave us good quality on the ball and that spread into midfield.

“Syers gave us good decision-making, well-timed runs off the ball, and the experience of him, Falkingham and Ferguson improved the team. Also, their toughness and mentality under pressure. Ferguson is only young but he’s had a good 50 or 60 games in the Football League.

“It was one of the few times this season when they felt an added pressure, from myself.

“We’d done a lot of work in training, we’d changed personnel and we’d changed formation to try to get the right reaction.

“We got the reaction we wanted, we’ve now got to maintain those standards.

“It was a real positive and now players are playing for places. If you’ve got a shirt it’s up to you to keep it and don’t let someone else have it.

“The performance was smashing but the squad is strong so now I want consistency and if we get consistent performances I believe we’ll get into the play-offs.

“If we don’t get the consistency, if we’re not good in both boxes, then we’ll miss out on the play-offs.”

Altrincham will give a debut to new signing Chris Lynch. The defender has joined from Salford City, for whom he scored against Darlington in Quakers’ 4-3 win at Moor Lane 12 months ago.