BLACKWELL or Boston. That’s where Darlington will be on Saturday depending on the outcome of tonight’s FA Trophy replay with Solihull Moors.

The rearranged tie, postponed before Christmas, will see the winners host Harrogate Town in the second round this weekend, and should Quakers succeed they will need to rearrange their visit to Boston United’s York Street.

Harrogate, currently third in the National League, will be a tough task for whichever team wins this evening, and while Solihull are also at Step 1 it is Quakers currently enjoying the better run of form.

Saturday’s 2-1 win against Gloucester City means they have taken 15 points from the last 18 available, while they drew 2-2 at Solihull last month when Will Hatfield put Quakers ahead, and earned a replay with a late Jack Lambert leveller.

The result and Solihull’s performance provoked a strong reaction from their manager Tim Flowers, the former Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper, who said: “The warm-up, everything I saw was way off it. We were passing nowhere, backwards, sidewards – it was pedestrian. We were absolutely braindead with what we were doing.”

Flowers’ men are sixth in the National League and have won only one of their last seven matches in all competitions, though Darlington are expecting Solihull to again pose a physical and direct approach and as a consequence Darlington manager Alun Armstrong is considering altering his tactics.

“I’ve got some thinking to do – do I go five at the back? But then if you do that are you inviting pressure?” mused Quakers’ boss.

“Do I play three centre-backs to deal with their aerial presence, or do we play our own game and concentrate on what we know we can do?

“I’m not one to sit back. I got done last year with Blyth at Leyton Orient in the Trophy, when we wanted a draw to take them back to Croft Park. We played five at the back and defended ever so well, but we conceded a really late goal. That’s put me off playing for the draw. If you’re hanging on in the last two minutes, then maybe go for a back-five.

“I’ve got a lot of thinking to do but I think the lads will want to play how we usually do.”

One certain change is Omar Holness for Sean Reid, who is cup-tied having previously played in the competition for Morpeth, while goalkeeper Chris Elliott returns for the ineligible Liam Connell.

Armstrong added: “Omar will come into the team, he will start because of his height. That’s why Jack Lambert started on Saturday because I was keeping Omar for Wednesday.

“Jack will come on and do his stuff, but I need some of the physical lads for Wednesday.”

Joe Wheatley was rested at the weekend but he will return this evening, as will Stephen Thompson.

“Joe had played a lot of games after his injury, and he said his groin was tight so it was the perfect time to rest him and leave him out of the squad altogether,” explained Armstrong.

“We’re going to need Thommo on Wednesday for his physicality.”

The winners this evening receive £4,500 in prize money, while the losers net £1,500.