DARLINGTON will be looking for revenge when AFC Telford United visit Blackwell Meadows in the third round of the Buildbase FA Trophy tomorrow afternoon.

Quakers lost 2-1 to the Bucks in National League North a month ago with a poor defensive performance that infuriated manager Alun Armstrong, and he believes that his side will produce a much better display against the visitors tomorrow, who put ten past Coleshill in their second round tie in midweek.

This will also be the third time that the two clubs have met in the Trophy – Quakers won at the Buck’s Head on their way to their 2011 Trophy win, while Telford won at Blackwell Meadows two seasons ago.

“Telford will have their tails riding high after scoring ten in midweek, but one or two players will have a point to prove from the first Telford game, because mistakes cost us in that game,” said Armstrong.

“We lost 2-1 in the league when we were defensively awful, but we should still have been in front and missed chances cost us the game at the other end. We could have been two or three goals in front at half-time.

“We have to put that right. The personnel might change a bit because we’ll be up against a different formation and a different calibre of player. City of Liverpool gave us some problems in the first half, but we were well on top in the second half.

“I’ve asked Louis Laing to be an ugly centre-half, and he’s doing what I’ve asked him to do – he’s defending first, rather than trying to play.

“He was disappointed that he didn’t play at Bristol Rovers in the FA Cup and I had a good chat with him about it. He’s responded well, look how well he played on Wednesday night.”

Quakers were grateful for the Trophy win over City of Liverpool in midweek – their first game in 17 days – and even though they missed several good chances, Armstrong was pleased with the performance.

“When you look at it, we hadn’t played for over a fortnight, and our first training session in that time was the night before the Liverpool game, so I can’t really complain,” he said. “But the lads could have made it easier considering the number of chances they missed.”

Defender Michael Liddle isn’t too far away from returning but probably won’t be risked today, otherwise Armstrong will choose from a full squad.

Spennymoor Town are also in FA Trophy action tomorrow, hosting Southport at the Brewery Field.

Moors brushed Marske United aside by 6-2 in midweek in the second round to give interim manager Tommy Miller his first victory in charge since Jason Ainsley stepped down, and set up today’s game against a Southport side that Moors beat n the league at Haig Avenue earlier in the season.

“We want to do well in this competition,” said Miller. “We’ve already beaten them once this season, but that means nothing today. On their day, they’re a good, battling team who will cause teams all sorts of problems because they have good dangerous players.”

Miller says he wants the job on a permanent basis. “I’m enjoying being the interim manager, even though there’s more pressure and more responsibility. Being a manager is something I’ve always wanted to do, and I want to give this job my best shot.”