| After three months of boredom, the new
football season is finally upon us and we start with a long trip to the
North East to face the Quakers. Pre-season ended
in disappointing fashion with the 2-1 defeat at Hednesford of the
Unibond Premier leaving more questions than answers on Brian Carey's
team selection for the starting eleven to face Darlington.
The Quakers have had a busy summer themselves with manager Dave
Penney looking to build on their eleventh place finish last season.
Darlington had an outside chance of making the end of season lottery but
finished six points adrift in the final reckoning after a five game
streak without a win around Easter ended their play off aspirations.
 Darlington have signed
twelve players since the end of
last season in a bid to boost their fortunes with the most noticeable transfer being the capture of Pawel
Abbott from Swansea in a deal worth £100,000.
Striker Abbott only joined
the Swans in January for £150,000 from Huddersfield but his chances were
restricted at the Liberty and he decided to drop down a league after only scoring
once in eighteen appearances for the Swans. Abbott had a successful
spell with Huddersfield, scoring over 50 goals in three years with the
Terriers, but failed to settle in South Wales with the Swans.
Dave Penney has made room in his squad for all these
signings by releasing over 20 players since the start of the year as he
looks to stamp his authority on the club after arriving last October.
Penney previously had a successful five year spell in
charge of Doncaster and during his time at Rovers they regained
their league status in 2003 via the play offs and a further promotion
followed in the next season when they lifted the League Two
Championship. It did come as a surprise when he left the club last
season after their move to the new stadium.
Doncaster also have experienced striker Julian Joachim
on their books but the future of last season's top goal scorer is
surrounded in uncertainty. Manager Dave Penney revealed last week that
the club are open to offers on the former Leicester and Aston Villa
striker but Chairman, George Houghton, revealed this week that the player wants
to stay with the North East club.
Doncaster do appear to have plenty of firepower with
former Chester striker Greg Blundell also on their books. Blundell
rejoined the club on the last day of the January transfer window and
registered three goals in fifteen games at the end of last season.
Former Wrexham winger Neil Wainwright is starting his
seventh season with the Quakers after joining from Sunderland in a £50,000
move in the summer of 2001 after his move to the Black Cats from
Wrexham did not work out. Wainwright is approaching 250 appearances for
Darlington but has scored only 26 goals during these games.
Darlington will have to build on their home form to
make a push for a promotion form with only ten wins last season at the
often empty Darlington Arena. With 25,000 seats in the ground against an
average gate of under 4,000, it makes for a strange atmosphere inside the ground.
 Recent
games against the Quakers are fairly uninspiring with only five goals in
total scored in the last five games. We do have a better record courtesy
of two wins and three draws and our last defeat at Darlington came
back in the 1990/91 season.
Last season, an own goal was enough to collect three
points on the weekend before Christmas and the clubs only had to wait
one month for the rematch. We again took the lead through Simon Spender but a
Tommy Wright penalty on the stroke of half time was enough for the
Quakers to take a point.
Defender Steve Evans looked like the main injury worry
for Wrexham but his ankle ligaments have healed sooner than expected and
he played a full 90 minutes for the reserves in midweek. Richard Hope is
also available after missing the last pre-season game at Hednesford last
weekend but he has recovered fully from his knock.
Matt Crowell and Juan Ugarte are the only players
unavailable as they are looking to regain match fitness following long
lay offs and manager Brian Carey has named the following eighteen man
squad to face the Quakers: Anthony Williams, Michael Jones; Simon
Spender, Shaun Pejic, Richard Hope, Steve Evans, Ryan Valentine, Mike
Wiliams; Chris
Llewellyn, Mark Jones, Danny Williams, Matty Done, Conall Murtagh, Levi
Mackin; Neil Roberts, Eifion Williams, Michael Proctor, Marc Williams.
Darlington are without defender Scott Wiseman,
midfielder Clark Keltie and forward Martin Smith. Chris Palmer, signed
on loan from Wycombe, will replace Smith, who is out until Christmas
with knee trouble.
Elsewhere in League Two, new comers
Dagenham & Redbridge have been handed a difficult trip to Stockport
whilst Morecambe start with a home game against Barnet.
Peterborough and MK Dons are the favourites to win the
league and they start with home games against Rochdale and Bury
respectively.
Of the teams that were relegated from League One,
Bradford will be expecting a big crowd as they entertain Macclesfield
and will look to start positively for a quick return to League One after
dropping out of the Premiership down to the basement league in only six
seasons. |
