Story by Kevin Luff - 31st October 2006

Darlington travel to Tranmere for their sixth away tie in a row in all cup competitions where new Quakers' boss Dave Penney will make his debut as manager. Darlington's priorities may well be the visit of Chester City on Friday night in Coca-Cola League Two but this will be an early chance for some players to make a positive impression on new manager Penney and he has promised a strong side. The players have a clean slate to show what they can do and this match will be a good chance to make an early impression.

Darlington will have few worries about playing higher division opponents. The visitors have already played matches away from home at Championship Side Stoke City in the Carling Cup first round where they bucked the odds to win 2-1 before taking Premiership Reading to within five minutes of being knocked out in the second round. The competition may well be different this time but Tranmere have been well warned of what their opponents are capable of. Tranmere manager Ronnie Moore though is not taking the fixture lightly.

"We're in this competition to win it, so we'll be treating it with all the respect it deserves. They're going to get another 25% out of their players because they've got a new manager," said Moore. "He'd be looking more to the game on Saturday I'd imagine, as he will be limited on what he can do with the team. They've got some good players with Joachim, Armstrong and Conlon. It's one of those nights where you've got to make your own atmosphere with your enthusiasm."

Tranmere face a few concerns going into the game following their 1-0 win over Bournemouth at the weekend. The result moved the hosts back into the top six of Coca-Cola League One but appears to have caused a few concerns for Moore leading up to this game. Chris Greenacre, Ian Goodison and Kevin Ellison all have problems whilst Paul McLaren has already been ruled out by Moore. Darlington meanwhile have no new concerns with the exception of Julian Joachim (hamstring).

"We've got one or two knocks," confirmed Moore on Tranmere's official site. "Chris Greenacre took a knock just before half time, and carried on, but he's got studs right down his back. Goodison pulled up during the warm up with his groin and I thought he wasn't going to start. But he said he'd give it ten minutes and lasted 90, though he's sore now. Ellison had to come off and McLaren definitely won't play due to his Achilles. So it's a matter of working with what you've got. It's a nightmare when you're playing Saturday, Tuesday, Friday and you pick up injuries."

Penney held his first training session yesterday afternoon and confirmed he would be issuing instructions right from the off. However the new Darlington boss will use the benefit of assistant manager Martin Gray's experience early on to ease himself in. With a reserve game on Wednesday night and the important visit of Chester City Penney will use this match in a bid to see as many of his players in action as possible but has promised a strong side.

"It's not a glamorous competition at this stage but if you get to the quarter finals or the finals it certainly is. A few clubs treat it lightly at this stage and give people a run out but you have to pay six of your highest appearance players so it will be a strong team," confirmed Penney yesterday. "I'll watch training and obviously pick Martin's (Gray) brain and pick a team accordingly. We've got a reserve game on Wednesday and then Chester on Friday so hopefully by that time we'll have seen most players get ninety-minutes under their belt and have a better feel of what they are about."

Quakers' match at Tranmere Rovers kicks off at 7.45pm tonight.