HAVING put together a good run of results, Darlington return to the venue where nine months ago they turned their season around.

It was at Leamington on January 27 that a Stephen Thompson hat-trick saw Quakers win 3-2, recovering from being 2-1 down and securing the points with a dramatic late winner.

The game is considered to have been a turning point in 2017-18, a crucial result.

In his first 12 games at the helm Tommy Wright had achieved only one win and the team were 19th at kick-off against Leamington, but it proved to be the first of eight victories in 12 matches before ultimately securing a position in mid-table, ending the campaign 12th.

They will hope tomorrow's game will be looked back on as part of a return to winning ways. Now 13th, Darlington’s fortunes having improved of late, rising from 19th by winning three of their last five league fixtures.

A win today could see Quakers move into the top half of the table, and while they will be without Reece Styche the absence of the striker should not damage the confidence of a team that has won each of their last two matches without him.

They won at FC United of Manchester and at home to Boston United, and Wright said: “We’ve won these games without Stychey so it shouldn't affect what we’ve been doing.

“We’ve got plenty of lads that have got goals in them, players Dave Syers and Jordan Nicholson for example. Harvey Saunders I believe will score goals and so will Simon Ainge. I think he’ll get to 20.”

“Thommo has not been banging them in yet. He will know what he did there last year and when you’re a player you have grounds where you remember what you did. You have teams where you feel that always do well against them."

Unless Ben O’Hanlon recovers from a hamstring strain, Darlington are likely to name the side that won last weekend.

Quakers also won in midweek, beating Esh Winning in the Durham Challenge Cup with several senior players getting a game including Alex Henshall, who has so far only shown flashes of his potential.

But Wright retains confidence in his summer signing, and said: “Alex had a very good game.

“He wasn’t so good in the first 20 minutes, nothing looked like it was going to go his way, but all of a sudden he had a couple of runs and he started to show people what he’s about.

“He hit the bar from about 35 yards, then he got a goal and toyed with them.

“The best game I’ve seen him have was at Leamington last season for Nuneaton when we were 4-0 up after 20 minutes. They couldn’t handle him.

“Maybe that will have a psychological impact and spur him on to do it again.”

While Quakers have cut their cloth and sold Styche to Alfreton, Leamington have also lost their top scorer this week with Matty Owens moving to Solihull Moors in the National League.

Wright added: “I knew all about him as he used to play for Barwell, which is about six miles from my house.

“They have got options and I imagine they’ll bring Colby Bishop into their starting XI. He was playing really well last year until he got an injury.

“They could bring someone else in before the game and if they’re from that neck of the woods the chances are I’ll know them.

“We’re prepared for how they’ll play, we’ve worked on it in training and given the lads all the information and we go into the game with confidence on the back of a couple of wins.”