Darlington are halfway to Wembley and key to securing their place in the League Two play-off final will be the opening stages of tomorrow's second leg at Rochdale, says Darlington boss Dave Penney.
He is also aware that his players will face a test of their nerve in front of what will be a capacity crowd for the televised tie.
Quakers lead 2-1 from last Saturday's first leg when in the opening stages Penney's side showed an attack-minded intent that has not always been present this season.
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But they wasted no time in pressurising Dale early on, just as they did at Peterborough seven days previously in a surprise 2-0 win which came following an early goal.
Penney expects Rochdale will aim to be similarly forward-thinking at Spotland as the hosts seek to earn the right to play at Wembley for the first time in their history.
"It's important that we start the game well and try and keep Rochdale quiet and keep the crowd quiet," said Penney who has ruled out the possibility of Pawel Abbott making a shock return tomorrow.
"I'm sure they will come at us early on like we did to them last week. What's important is how we respond to that and how we defend it. We need to give ourselves a foothold in the game early on like we did last Saturday."
Spotland holds 10,200 and while Darlington will have the backing of 2,000 fans, Rochdale are close to selling out and Penney added: "In the home game last Saturday our players reacted very well but there's bound to be a more hostile atmosphere at Rochdale.
"So the players are going to have to mentally strong to stand up to the kind of atmosphere that you can expect we will have on Saturday.
"If we are mentally strong enough then we'll win. There's added pressure now and it's up the players how the react to it.
"A lot depends on how the players handle the pressure. I've been in the play-offs before and few of the players were with me at Doncaster and we've also got Rob Purdie and Julian Joachim who have been through it before too.
"You've got to try and keep calm and not put too much pressure on them. We've kept things light-hearted this week but the remain focused on what they have to do."
The few remaining Quakers tickets go on sale today at the Darlington Arena at 9am, and Penney is hoping to receive plenty of backing tomorrow from the visiting fans.
They were ferocious in their support in the first leg, and Penney said: "The fans this season have been excellent wherever we've been in the country.
"At Peterborough two weeks ago they were excellent and it's great when you go away from home and the fans are making a lot of noise.
"Rochdale fans were making a lot of noise at our place and I'm sure ours will be on Saturday."
Unlike the play-off semi-finals in the Championship and League One, the Two ties are being staged a week apart and Penney is pleased as this has given his players more time to get over their injuries.
Alan White has recovered from the dead leg that forced him off last weekend, while David Stockdale's foot injury, Penney says, is "a lot better" than last week.
He will most likely however, receive another pain-killing injection prior to kick-off and Ryan Valentine may follow the same treatment as he battles to overcome a knee problem.
The defender is rated at 50/50, as is Ben Parker who limped from the field with a hamstring strain.
Penney said: "The gap has given the injured players half a chance to recover. Usually the second leg is played within three or four days but we've had chance to get players back to fitness, and the same goes for Rochdale too.
"I'm glad we're playing the games a week apart, unlike Leeds and Carlisle, otherwise the injured players wouldn't have had a chance.
"We needed a week to rest and recover because it was a tough game last Saturday."
Penney will be without both first-choice strikers as Tommy Wright (knee) will not feature and Penney added: "Pawel Abbott doesn't have a chance I don't think.
"He was on the pitch before the game last week but he's only been out with his hamstring for three weeks. It took him five weeks to come back last time and he only last 15 minutes."
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