DARLINGTON face a big test of their revival when promotion-chasing Scunthorpe visit Blackwell Meadows tomorrow evening.

After winning their last three matches against Buxton, Curzon Ashton and Banbury, Quakers are now third bottom in National League North, just two points from safety. They’re level on points with Banbury, but with a slightly worse goal difference, one point behind Rushall and two points adrift of Southport. In the last five games, only Spennymoor have picked up more points than them.

Darlington have now won six of their 12 matches under Steve Watson, and he said: “My assistant, Terry Mitchell, told me that if we hadn’t conceded on Saturday against Banbury, then we would have gone above them on goals scored.

"That shows how far we’ve come over the last couple of weeks and how well the lads are doing. The goal difference was pretty desperate when we got here, so it shows how much the football and all-round spirit have improved.

“But there’s still a way to go yet, we’re nowhere near the target we need to be safe, so we’ll keep working.”

Scunthorpe are second in the table, and drew 2-2 with Chester at Glanford Park at the weekend in front of the biggest-ever crowd in National League North of 7,511. They are currently four points ahead of Chorley, who have a game in hand, but 12 points behind leaders Tamworth. They have already beaten Quakers in the league and Trophy this season, both of them one-sided affairs. Tomorrow's fixture was previously postponed just before kick-off because of a waterlogged pitch.

Watson said: “We have a team and system in mind that will keep our run going. We picked up a couple of injuries on Saturday, but we’ll have a look at what we’ve got.”

Midfielders Ben Liddle and Jarrett Rivers both have hamstring injuries from Saturday, along with defender Cardo Siddik. Striker Akwasi Asante is suffering from a groin injury, while midfielder Adriano Moke is still on loan at Ashton United.

Meanwhile, Quakers have handed midfielder Matty Cornish a contract until the end of the season.

Cornish joined from Marske United after their demise in January, and since then has scored twice and assisted in several more goals, including all three at Curzon Ashton. He has been at the club on a non-contract basis since he joined.

“Matty has done well since he came in, Terry Mitchell knew him from different clubs,” said Watson. “He’s a good footballer, he wants to get on the ball all the time.  And on Saturday, he played in two different positions because of the injuries we had during the game. It was a bit of a no-brainer to offer him a deal until the end of the season.”