DARLINGTON manager Alun Armstrong believes that his team is more than capable of beating the league leaders when they go to Fylde tomorrow.

Quakers have dropped to sixth in the National League North table in recent weeks because of a run of five games without a win, but they’re still four points ahead of the play-off chasers who are headed by Gloucester.

Fylde are the current table toppers, but Armstrong is confident that his players have what it takes to pull off a shock for the second successive season.

“This is always a tough place to go,” he said. “We got a great result there last season as everyone knows. It was one of the most unexpected results last season because we totally changed the team and put fresh legs in, because it was a midweek trip after playing on Saturday, and the plan worked a treat.

“The lads worked their socks off that night and got their just rewards. It was a little bit backs to the wall, but a wonder goal by Kevin Dos Santos won it.

“This will be a different kettle of fish though. We’ve had a little bit of a fresh week with the game against Curzon Ashton being off Tuesday, and Fylde played at Buxton.

"It’s going to be a really tough game because we know what kind of quality they’ve got. I’ve looked at their last few games and they’ve changed their personnel in each game. They’ve got some strength in depth there.

“On our day though, we know what we’re capable of, we can beat anybody, and we need to make sure that we get back to those levels.”

Fylde are one of the biggest spenders in the league, and only four years ago played at Wembley against Salford for a place in the Football League. They were relegated from the National League two seasons ago.

“There seem to be more and more full-time teams now," said Armstrong. "It tends to even out, nine times out of ten the full-time teams are in the top seven of our league. The top three at the moment are all full-time - Fylde, King's Lynn and Chester.

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“It’s going to be a tough one but we’re fresh now. The lads have done a lot of work on bits and bobs in training this week, hopefully we’ll get the right pattern to get the right results.

“Fylde is a difficult place to go, but they’re not unbeatable. They’re dropping points just like everybody else is, but as we’ve said all along, anyone can beat anyone in this league. It’s about on the day and who turns up. Some performances don’t go for you, and some do, that’s the level we’re at, it’s about inconsistency. The more consistent you are, the higher you’ll end up playing.

“We’re really looking forward to it, it’s a really good challenge for the lads. It’s nice to go as underdogs. We haven’t played well against the teams below us, so it will be nice to go to a team above us.”

Quakers’ scheduled home game with Curzon Ashton was postponed this week because of a partly frozen pitch, and that has given them some extra time to prepare for the clash against two of their former players, striker Luke Charman and midfielder Will Hatfield.

“They are two top drawer players and two top drawer lads," said Armstrong. "We know what they bring to the table, and we’ve got to make sure that we don’t put a smile on their faces. We know what they’re capable of, but we’ve got lads here now who have done just as well as they have.

“I’m delighted for them in getting back to full-time football, our main focus now is getting one over them on Saturday.”

Armstrong will be close to having a full squad, with defender Jake Lawlor now almost recovered from a back injury.