Story by Kevin Luff - 20th October 2006

Darlington entertain Barnet this weekend at the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena and having steadied the ship with a point at Hereford are eager to return to winning ways. Quakers were left depleted for the last match against the Bulls but players are now returning from injury. Despite this caretaker managers Neil Maddison and Martin Gray will be well aware of the importance of keeping a consistent side and given how well Darlington did, especially in the first half against Hereford, there may be few changes on the cards.

Patrick Collins and Tano Giallanza will be pushing for an inclusion in the squad on Saturday. Whilst there have been a few minor knocks during the week the only real concerns will be the suspended Craig James and Julian Joachim. "We've only got Julian Joachim out for this weekend. After that everyone is fully fit. It makes for positive selection problems. Its great to think you have nearly a clean bill of health," said Gray.

Gray is desperate to get three points on the table and ensure some progression in the coming games whilst the club's board deliberates over who the new manager will be. Gray is obviously keen to land the post himself and will do himself a lot of favours with a win over Barnet this weekend. Gray is no stranger to management having transformed the youth team's fortunes. He admits that some aspects are different but feels having familiar faces around has helped.

"It's been different from working with youth team players every week. It is something I've always wanted to do, it's a challenge and something I am striving off everyday. The game is no different but you are working with players who have a lot more experience and who have more opinions," said Gray. "We have got good people around us in Neil Maddison and Mick Tait but its about making decisions and you stand or fall by them. We do have good people within the football club and that's a big help."

Whilst Darlington's injury list is clearing Barnet do have a few concerns going into the match. Barnet's twenty-two year old defender Simon King fractured a metacarpal in his left hand against Milton Keynes Dons and will miss this weekend's game despite having a cast on his hand to speed up his recovery. Barnet manager Paul Fairclolugh hoped that a cast would help get one of his most influential players back in action sooner.

In better news worries that Barnet might need to go into the match with an untried third choice goalkeeper were dispelled when Ross Flitney reported for training on Friday and joined the squad travelling to the North East. Jason Puncheon, like Flitney, was not well enough to train on Thursday and missed out again on Friday, but may still travel on the day of the match if he feels well enough. Already ruled out for the trip are Lee Harrison and striker Jason Norville, both with hamstring problems. Striker Giuliano Grazioli resumed full training on Thursday after a tweaked hamstring but would not be ready for the weekend game.