HAVING given themselves some breathing space by beating the worst team in the division on Saturday, Darlington aim for back-to-back wins on Wednesday evening at Blackwell Meadows against a Chester side that have a poor away record.

Bottom-of-the-table Nuneaton Borough were beaten 2-1 on Saturday, a satisfactory result though not one Quakers could elicit much pride from given the substandard nature of the game and that the opposition were very poor.

Nonetheless, the result meant Quakers were ten points above the relegation zone before Tuesday's night’s fixtures and it would require a remarkable sequence of results for Darlington to be relegated now.

They can enhance their position further by beating Chester, a team on the periphery of the play-off places despite having the second-worst away record in the division.

Chester manager Anthony Johnson said: “For part-time clubs, making this kind of away trip in midweek is never ideal.

“Something like 95 per cent of our lads will have been working on the day of the game and will have to get away early to make the journey up there.

“It's a long trip up there before we even kick a ball, but we can't use that as an excuse for a bad performance.

“Clubs like Darlington, Blyth, Spennymoor and Brackley have these long-distance away fixtures all the time and have to cope with it.”

Darlington are hardly unbeatable at home, however. They have won three of their last 11 games at Blackwell, where their last success was on January 5 against Kidderminster Harriers, and manager Tommy Wright admits he feels embarrassed by results.

He said: “Nobody should catch 40 points now, but at the same time I’d be amazed if we finished on 40 points. That would be the biggest downer, if we didn’t add to our tally.

“I’m looking at Wednesday and think we can add three points there. I want to sort this form out. I do feel a bit embarrassed by the results and where we are in the league.

“It’s not nice when you lose a game of football, especially ones that you’ve been leading and gifted away, they are the ones that hit you twice as hard.”

Asked if the players feel the same way about the team’s results, Wright added: “I think they do. But it’s not a blame game. I’ve always said that when I walk into a dressing room I want lads to acknowledge when it’s their fault.

“If it’s my fault I’ll hold my hand up and take the blame, but when lads make individual errors, just come in and hold your hand up, so ‘my bad, I’ll put it right’, and that’s all I want from the lads and they are starting to do that now.

“There’s nobody that is deflecting or hiding, they are taking responsibility, they are in it together and I firmly believe we can kick on.

“The leaders in the group need to stand up and be counted. We’ve got people like Simon Ainge, Terry Galbraith, Stephen Thompson and now Omar Holness, I like to think that’s enough experienced heads to get us through games.

“If the ball needs to go down the line instead of inside, and when there’s been that extra pass in midfield that could get cause I’d like to think people are making better decisions now.”

Holness will make his home debut, while Ben Jackson and Kit Elliott, on loan from Huddersfield Town, will again be in the squad as will new signing Osagi Bascome.

A 20-year-old attacking midfielder, Bascome has been capped eight times by Bermuda.

Holness started on Saturday and Jackson came off the bench in the second half, where the pitch, also used by Nuneaton Rugby Club, could not be described as a level playing surface.

“When someone comes and plays their first game in English football they probably don’t expect the pitch to be like that,” admitted Wright.

“It was the same with the Huddersfield lads, coming here from a Premier League they were probably thinking ‘oh my God’.

“Ultimately, you’ve got to deal with what you’re given. Omar is a lot better on the ball than he showed, but he made good decisions, when to hook it, when to go longer.”

Quakers have seven matches to play and need to accrue another 15 points if they are to match the tally of 55 achieved last season when they finished 12th.

Wright added: “We want to enjoy the rest of the season and we want to win every single game that we’ve got and we’re going to be professional.

“We’re 17th in the league and it’s not good enough. It’s not long ago we said we wanted a top-half finish, we’re probably not going to get that now, but can we finish at the top of the bottom half, can we finish well to revive a bit of optimism for next season.”