Darlington winger Neil Wainwright is winning his race to be fit in time for Sunday's clash against his former club, Wrexham.

The 25-year-old missed last week's draw at Lincoln with a hamstring injury but looks set to make a timely return at the Racecourse Ground, where he spent two years before joining Sunderland for £100,000 in July 1998.

"I've trained the last few days so fingers crossed it should be OK," said Wainwright, who admitted the recent cold bite sweeping the region had done little to speed up his recovery.

"The weather hasn't helped any of us this week to be honest," said Wainwright.

"We've been practising on astro turf and been on a couple of road runs because the grass has been frozen solid. That puts added pressure on my hamstring as well."

Even if Wainwright does recover in time he is by no means sure of his place after Saturday's battling performance at Sincil Bank.

"I'm really looking forward to going back, but obviously there's no guarantee I'm going to play after the lads did so well last week," said Wainwright.

"It's just a case of grabbing my chance if I get it. It's great when there's so much competition for places and it can only help the team. It keeps everyone on their toes."

Wainwright was outstanding in Quakers' FA Cup win over Wrexham in November and the former Robins favourite is aiming to complete a memorable double.

"I thoroughly enjoyed it last time and hopefully we can get another good result down there," said Wainwright.

Quakers go into Sunday's game without a win in five - a stark contrast to the side which visited the Racecourse Ground in November unbeaten in four under newly installed caretaker boss Mick Tait.

Wainwright believes a win on Sunday could provide the tonic needed to kick-start Quakers' season. "We were going really well when we beat them in the Cup and we'll be looking for the same sort of spark on Sunday to get us up and running again.

"Every game is important but this one has that little extra edge for me with it being Wrexham."

Read more about the Quakers here.