Glen Robertson takes a look at Darlington's latest opposition...
Darlington continue their tour of the Lakes with a trip to the Lakeland Radio Stadium to play Northern Premier League side Kendal Town.
Last Season
Kendal finished fifth in the League to secure a play-off spot but succumbed to Bradford Park Avenue in the semi-finals. They also reached the semi-finals of the Northern Premier League Challenge Cup but lost to Retford United and were one win away from reaching the first-round proper of the F.A. Cup but lost 1-0 to Nuneaton.
Pre-season
Town have had six games so far, losing 4-1 and 3-2 to Carlisle and Blackburn respectively, beating Coppull Utd 2-1, Garstang 2-0 and AFC Liverpool 6-1 before losing 4-1 to Morecambe on Tuesday.
Summer Business
Defender Rory Winters has joined from Morecambe after a successful loan spell last year. Paul Byrne has left for Skelmersdale United and Warren Beattie has moved to Bamber Bridge. There has been changes off-the-field, too, with chairman David Willan stepping down from his role. He has been replaced by Haydon Munslow.
Manager
Lee Ashcroft
He took over the black-and-whites in 2006 as player/manager after two seasons playing in the first-team. Since then he has narrowly missed qualifying for the F.A Cup proper on a couple of occasions and reached the play-offs twice.
Last season he was banned from any activities with the club for three months after using foul and/or indecent language to match officials. It coincided with the team's run-in and play-off defeat.
As a player, he had over ten different clubs, including Preston, West Brom and Wigan. He also achieved one Under-21 cap for England, coming on as a substitute against Hungary Under-21s in 1992 to play alongside the likes of Andy Cole, Ray Parlour and Ugo Ehiogu.
Players to Watch
Alex Taylor
Last year's top-scorer is already banging in the goals this pre-season, with the only goal against Carlisle and a hat-trick against AFC Liverpool.
He was named Player of the Year by his manager for his exploits next year and will be hoping to repay his manager's praise with more goals this year.
Tom Newton
The number-two 'keeper is making the most of his first-team opportunities. He has received glowing-reviews for his form during pre-season while first-choice stopper David Newnes is injured. Another top performance against the Quakers will further challenge Newnes.
Glen Steel
Taylor may have been the manager's Player of the Year but it was the defender Steel who won the award from Kendal's supporters in his first year at the club. He's a rock at the back and also chipped in with five goals last year; a menace at both ends of the pitch.
Team News
First-choice 'keeper Newnes has missed the entire pre-season with a thigh strain so Newton will continue in goal. Kendal had more success against Morecambe when they changed from their traditional 4-4-2 formation to 4-3-3. Manager Ashcroft may choose to trial the 4-3-3 against Darlington to assess its benefits further.
