DARLINGTON have reached the end of 2019 in much better shape than they started it, borne out by their position in the table which is far better than at this stage 12 months ago.

Quakers have more points now – 33 after 22 games – than in either of their previous two seasons at this stage, manager Alun Armstrong having wasted little time in building a better squad from the remains left behind by his predecessor.

Armstrong has also succeeded in creating a dressing room camaraderie comparable to the days of Martin Gray’s leadership, says Stephen Thompson, whose team-mates are now North-East-based, and that was not always the case over the previous two challenging seasons.

He said: “The group of lads we’ve got now are great, it takes you back to a few years ago when the likes of Browny, Leon and Twinny were here. We were all best mates, but we didn’t have that for a couple of years.

“We’ve got team spirit now and you can see it on the pitch. We all have each other’s back.

“The gaffer and Darren Holloway’s favourite saying is ‘do your job and then done half of your mate’s job’. It’s right, you can’t just look after yourself, you’ve got to help out your team-mates as well.”

Darlington go into tomorrow’s New Year’s Day game at Spennymoor Town ninth in the table for the second time this season, a position they previously occupied in the early days of 2017-18 under Gray.

Under Tommy Wright Quakers finished last season 16th, and Thompson now reveals he was considering whether to call time on his Darlington days.

“The gaffer [Armstrong] came in and come the end of last season, was I happy? Probably not. Would I still have been here if someone like gaffer hadn’t come in? I don’t know. I was contracted, but anything could’ve happened.

“I got a phone call from David Johnston to say Alun was getting the job, then I went to meet him and he told us everything I wanted to hear.

“He made me feel important. Me and Terry Galbraith went to see him and he explained everything, he explained what he was about and this season has been brilliant.”

Thompson added: “I’d spoke to Ian Watson [ex-Darlington and Blyth left-back] and he had told me that the gaffer would like me.

“He told me how he would be as a manager, the kind of football he plays and he was bang on because the gaffer has been spot on.

“The lads want to play for him. He’s brought a lot down from Blyth with him, and the lads play not just for each other but for the management as well.”

Thompson is now on six goals for the season, the most he has had at this stage of a campaign since 2013-14.

Armstrong rested him for the weekend win at Blyth Spartans, but the 30-year-old is likely to return to the starting XI tomorrow away to Spennymoor Town, against whom he has scored penalties in three successive games.

The spot-kick during the Boxing Day win against them was his 100th Darlington goal, and Thompson was quick to take a souvenir of the occasion, saying: “I swiped my shirt!

“I’ve got all my other shirts framed in one of the rooms in my house, all the ones from seasons where we won something.

“Our lass says she won’t let me put anymore up. There’s one space left so that’s going to be for this shirt, I’ll get all the lads to sign it and then that’s that done.”