AFTER a dreadful New Year’s Day, Darlington aim to get their 2019 kickstarted against Kidderminster Harriers today, when there could be a familiar face among the opposition ranks.

Four days after a 4-0 defeat at York City, Quakers return to Blackwell Meadows and so does Josh Heaton who yesterday signed for Kidderminster on loan from St Mirren.

The towering defender was Tommy Wright’s first signing as Quakers manager, and he became an integral figure during the second half last season when Darlington moved away from the relegation zone with a string of improved results.

Wright gave him his debut in a 3-3 draw away to Kidderminster in November 2017, and in February against the same opposition he scored his only Quakers goal in a 2-1 home win.

The 22-year-old’s performances at the heart of the defence alerted clubs from a higher level with Middlesbrough were among those interested.

Instead Preston-born Heaton moved to St Mirren in a deal worth £75,000, but he hardly played north of the border and has now returned to the National League North, moving on loan to Aggborough for the remainder of the season.

Ahead of his Harriers debut, subject to international clearance, Heaton said: “There’ll be mixed emotions, I’m not too sure what reaction I’ll get, but you have to forget about that in football, you have to deal with the job that you’ve got to do and that means getting three points at Darlington.”

Jonny Burn was intended to be Heaton’s replacement, Wright having signed the Darlington-born defender in the summer, but he has been in and out of the first-choice XI.

He was not involved on New Year’s Day when Quakers lost 4-0 at York City, and Wright has now challenged the 23-year-old to make his mark.

Explaining why Burn was not named among the substitutes at Bootham Crescent, Wright said: “Luke Trotman was played wing-back and has played as a right-sided centre-back, so having a centre-back on the bench wasn’t a priority.

“We went with what we thought we would need on the bench, that’s why Jonny was not involved, but he knows himself that he needs to do better.

“The reality is that Jonny has not done well enough to stay in the team. He knows my thoughts on that and he agrees with me.

“He will have to be patient, he will have to work hard in training and it’s up to him to react, I want to see a bit of fight from him.

“He came to this club as a local lad and I want to see him fighting for it.”

Winger Alex Henshall, another summer signing that has yet to prove himself, was also not involved at York, though Wright says this was due to fitness reasons.

He explained: “Hensh is coming back from his hamstring injury. He had a really good impact on Boxing Day, and we chose to rest him on Saturday and New Year’s Day.

“He’s in the same category as Simon Ainge in that he’s coming back from an injury and it’s been the Christmas period, so we haven’t trained as much as usual.

“The right thing to do is get them prepared properly in training.”

Liam Hughes has had a cortisone injection on the shoulder he dislocated last month so should be available for selection today.

He was substituted against York as he suffered pain in his shoulder, and Wright added: “Hughesy has spoken to the doctor about what he needs to do for his rehab and what’s next. He’s been happy to take the injection, so he will play Saturday if he’s fit and available.”

Before being losing on New Year’s Day Darlington had won back-to-back matches at Blackwell, beating York 5-1 and Ashton 2-1, with striker Andrew Nelson scoring twice in both games.

Today is the final match of his loan from Sunderland though a knee injury means his participation is in doubt.

Wright added: “Hopefully our consistency levels can be better than they have been. Our next goal has got to be to break into the top half of the table, stay there and give ourselves the outside chance of the play-offs. But the priority is to win the next game.

“We’ve got the confidence of two home wins and we’ve got to take heart from that.”