BUOYED by last week’s dramatic win at Leamington, Darlington are now unbeaten in three matches and hope to make it four today when they take on out-of-form Blyth Spartans at Blackwell Meadows.

That it is the first time since August Quakers have not lost in three matches says much for their disappointing season on the pitch, one that has recently shown signs of an upturn in fortunes.

Seven days ago Stephen Thompson’s hat-trick, completed in injury time, secured three points away from home for the first time since the opening weeks of the campaign, and they now hope to build on confidence created by their mini-run.

Today’s match is the first of their final 14 fixtures, today being the 14th game of Tommy Wright’s tenure, which began at Blyth on October 28 since when there has been a series of changes.

During the intervening 14 weeks a period of transition has seen six players leave, eight arrive, but only nine points taken from of a possible 36.

It is a run that has seen Darlington drop from tenth to 18th since Wright replaced Martin Gray, under whom Quakers won only one of their final 11 games.

Clearly change was required, a refresh, though Wright and assistant Alan White appear to be heading in the right direction with their team, which has undergone a mid-season makeover.

While a new stand is built at Blackwell Meadows, to be completed in March and taking the number of covered seats to almost 600, a team is being built on the pitch.

Of the starting XI at Leamington, only three were also selected to start at Blyth: Leon Scott, Terry Galbraith and Stephen Thompson.

Wright explained: “It was never about coming and turning it upside down. I think I’ve added quality to what we had.

“I said to the boys from day one: ‘You’re all great lads and I’m going to give you a chance’, and I did. Ultimately, how long do you leave it before you start making changes?

“The players can’t say: ‘Gaffer, you’ve only given me three games’, because they also had about 18 before I came in. So at some point you have to make changes in personnel.

“It’s not always a case of a player not being good enough, it might be a player doesn’t fit a system or necessarily what I want.”

Liam Marrs would fall into that category, the right-back last week joining Dunston UTS on loan as Wright favours attack-minded Luke Trotman, one of his eight new signings.

The manager added: “Ultimately, I’ll get judged and if you’re going to be judged you want to be judged fairly on a team that you have served up.

“I’m always looking to improve, and I don’t want the lads thinking that they’re safe just because they’re still here.

“They’ve got to fight. I want to win things at this club, and at the minute we’re not winning enough games of football, it’s as simple as that.

“Everybody is under evaluation – including myself – and that’s football. You go week to week and you’re judged at the end of it. It has to be as brutal as that.”

Confidence, says Wright, and the lack of it, has been a factor in Darlington’s poor run, and he says comments on social media have had an impact.

He said: “The lads have got a lot of quality, but they’ve been low on confidence. It’s been about getting their confidence back up and reassuring them, because today’s world is about social media – they read it and it does hit them hard.

“We’re getting there. We’re three unbeaten, the lads know it probably should be five.

“We’ve dropped points when we should’ve got results, like Tamworth, Gainsborough and Alfreton, but they’ve stopped feeling sorry for themselves and they’re starting to think they can win games of football again.”

Wright rates Tom Portas’ chances of being available today as 50/50, the midfielder has a calf strain.

Spartans are managed by former Quakers striker Alun Armstrong, with ex-Darlington defender Darren Holloway as his assistant, and have lost five of their last eight league games.

In midweek a much-changed team were thumped 8-2 at Morpeth, a game that saw former Quaker Peter Jameson introduced as an early substitute due to an injury to Spartans’ goalkeeper.

Wright added: “Blyth haven’t become a bad team over night.

“They’re in that last play-off place at the minute and have won two in the last eight, but in that time have played Spennymoor twice and Salford.

“There’s some great players there, including Dan Maguire who is back fit, and they have a lot of quality in the squad.

“Their form has been very irregular for the last few games, but I do think form goes out of the window when you have local derbies.

“Alun and Holloway both played for Darlington, I’m sure they’ll be both up for it, and there’s former players of each in team in both camps. That always adds a bit of spice.”