AFTER Darlington rounded off their pre-season campaign with a 2-2 draw away to Northern Premier League side Whitby Town, they will be assessing the fitness of Danny Rose, Jarrett Rivers and Adriano Moke ahead of their National League North opener on Saturday.

New signing Marcus Maddison was amongst the goals yet again putting the Quakers into the lead with a firm strike before captain David Wheater was on hand to head home from a corner.

The Quakers were pegged back just before half-time when former Boro frontman Bradley Fewster scored for the hosts. Nicky Walker found the equalising goal in the second half as their final friendly of the summer finished level at the Turnbull Ground.

Alun Armstrong’s side begin their National League North campaign next weekend when they host Gloucester City at Blackwell Meadows.

The Darlington boss is hopeful of having a number of players from injury in time for the game as he said: “Fingers crossed on Rosey (Danny Rose) but he has missed a lot of football with his calf. He needs to do a lot of work and I think he has only had 90 minutes of game time in pre-season.

“Jarrett (Rivers) tweaked his thigh when he was at the Boro game and he just wasn’t right on Tuesday. He will probably train Tuesday to see how it is. Some non contact and get him ready for Thursday and see how he is after that.

“(Adriano) Moke said he felt his hamstring a little bit but I think he will be fine for Tuesday.

“We’ve got Wheats (David Wheater) back doing 90 minutes. He’s been away last week, missed a game and missed training so he’s had to play the games again to get himself fit. He’s still not there and we know that but we will get a lot better and that is a certainty.

Speaking on the draw with the Seasiders, Armstrong added: “It wasn’t great today and it needs to be a lot better and we know that. It will be because pre-season friendlies aren’t great because they don’t really matter. Sometimes you can get sucked into playing a certain way and start that way. We can’t afford to do that.”