Having bolstered survival hopes by winning three of their last four games, Darlington aim for another big win on Saturday against Banbury at Blackwell Meadows.

Steve Watson has guided Quakers to five wins in his 11 matches in charge - before his appointment they had won four of their previous 24 league games.

Darlington are looking for their first win over Banbury. They have played the Oxfordshire side on three previous occasions in the last two seasons, and have only picked up one point, when they drew 0-0 at the Community Stadium.

Watson’s side climbed to third-bottom in midweek by beating Curzon Ashton 3-1, four days after coming from behind to beat Buxton 2-1. They are now three points behind today’s opponents and King’s Lynn, but with a worse goal difference, and four behind Southport and Rushall Olympic.

“We’ve given ourselves a fighting chance, but there’s still a lot of work to do,” said Watson. “There is no time to take the foot off the gas, we need to keep pushing forward as much as possible.

“Whatever game we go into between now and the end of the season, we’ve got to look to win.

“It’s important to win absolutely every game. We have to take every single game, home or away, exactly the same. It must be 100 per cent focus.”

Watson added: “We’ve learned along the way, we’ve won and lost games.

“I think we’ve found a way of playing that we’re comfortable with now. It’s not too complicated, all the messages I get after games from players are pretty clear. The players are quite comfortable with what we’re trying to do now.

“Doing it is the hardest part, but in the last couple of games they’ve done really well, they’ve made good decisions and defended well as a team. Hopefully we’ll keep improving.”

Banbury appointed former Chelsea and Derby player Kevin Wilson as their manager just after they beat Darlington in January – Wilson was in charge of Northampton in the 1999-2000 season, and persuaded Marco Gabbiadini to join the Cobblers from Quakers.

Banbury have better away form than home form, and Watson added: “Banbury are a good side; we saw that when we played them in January. They play similar to Curzon, but with a slightly different style. We know they’re a good side, but they’ll also know that we’ve picked up since we last played them, so it should be a good game.”

Watson believes that the home fans will play a key part today, and he said: “Our home games will be pivotal to us trying to stay in this league.

“The fans know that we’re trying to do things in a certain way.

“They’re going to be patient with us when things are going to be difficult at times when we go a goal down and in a perilous position.

“They made a big contribution last week. The players can get a little nervous and if the fans aren’t impatient and are backing the players like last week, that will give the players more confidence.”

Defender Scott Barrow suffered an injured elbow at Curzon. He will be assessed before the game but is likely to play.

Skipper Tom Platt is still suffering from a dead leg but should be fit, but striker Akwasi Asante is still out with a groin strain.