Getting to know the Blue Square Premier : Darlington
By Nathan Jackson
May 31 2011
Any Lincoln fans who aren't familiar with Darlington obviously haven't been supporting the Imps very long. The Imps and the Quakers have played each other a lot in recent times and just 12 months ago we were two of the three longest serving sides in League Two....and now neither are there.
Website - Ground Guide - Unofficial Site
12 months ago Darlington were doing what the Imps are doing now and preparing for life outside of the Football League for the second time. Both clubs managed to bounce back at the first attempt the previous time, but Darlington's first year back didn't result in becoming the first side to come back at the first attempt twice, something that the Imps can now potentially achieve.
Darlington's first season back in the non-league next year started well with just one defeat in their first twelve games and that came against the side that had gone down with them, Grimsby. However after that they were inconsistent until the end of the season when five wins in their final seven games in all competitions that saw them finished seventh, a respectable finish in their first year in the non-league. They also finished the season well when they won the FA Trophy with a 119th minute winning goal in a 1-0 win over Mansfield at Wembley.
Much like Cambridge, I'm not going to go on at length into their history but focus more on the recent past. Since the mid-90s Darlington have competed in three Playoffs but have failed to win any of them, losing in the 1996 and 2000 Finals to Plymouth and Peterborough respectively, whilst going out at the semi-final stage to Rochdale in 2008.
In 1999/2000 they became the FA Cup's Lucky Losers. Manchester United had withdrawn to compete in the Club World Championships in Brazil and therefore one place in round three was vacant. All the teams that lost in the Second Round were placed into a hat and Darlington were picked to progress to the third round, they would go on to lose to Aston Villa 2-1.
They once made the national news when they attempted to bring Columbian Faustino Asprilla to the club in 2002. The former Newcastle man had apparantly agreed to sign for the Quakers and was even paraded around the pitch at Feethams, only to then no-show when the time actually sign came around.
A few months later the club moved to the Reynolds Arena, a stadium which has had six different names in it's eight year history, ranging from the simple Darlington Arena to the Balfour Webnet, Williamson Motors and TFM Darlington Arena. It made doing a ground guide profile for them awkward.
Darlington will be many people's favourites for a promotion place next season after how they ended last season.
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