Darlington play host to Coca-Cola League One side Northampton Town this weekend in the first round of the FA Cup. Quakers have only been past the second round twice in the last five years but they will fancy their chances against a Northampton side who have struggled on their travels. Stuart Gray's side have won only four times in all competitions away from Sixfields Stadiums since December last year.

Darlington manager Dave Penney is of course no stranger to cup success and took some big scalps during his time at Doncaster Rovers. As a player Penney also enjoyed cup success with Swansea City. While promotion remains the key objective for Darlington this season Penney feels his players can enjoy tomorrow's cup clash with Northampton knowing that the pressure is on the visitors.

"The standard of League One is a lot higher than our level, so this will be a tough game. We saw that last season when Swansea punished us. We've had Northampton watched and they play a 3-5-2 system," said Penney. "There's no pressure on us when we play sides from a higher level, because we are not expected to win. The pressure is on them because their fans will expect them to beat a side from the league below them. We have not had good cup draws this season, as this is our third game against sides from a higher level."

Quakers will make changes to the side that beat Shrewsbury Town 2-0 during mid-week. Matt Green and Johann Smith have returned to their clubs, Cardiff and Bolton respectively, while Ian Miller has not been allowed to play by Ipswich, and Bradford have made the same decision with Joe Colbeck, as they don't want him cup-tied. Tim Ryan is likely to be missing with a hamstring injury but Darlington will be boosted by the return of Pawel Abbott. The £100,000 summer capture should start on the bench following a layoff with a knee injury.

Visitors Northampton go into this game on the back of two home defeats and Gray is looking for a reaction from his players. The Cobblers were sitting comfortably above mid-table but defeats against Southend United and Bristol Rovers have dented the club's hopes of pushing onwards for the time being. Regardless of form Northampton will be a real test for Darlington.

"The ball is in the players court and it is up to them to show me a response," said Gray. "I've always said that although you are never guaranteed to get a result you should be able to guarantee a performance. We put in a good performance against Southend but didn't get a result and then on Tuesday night we just didn't perform. In a team game you can probably get away with two or three players not performing but the other night we probably only had two that did."

"The FA Cup is a great competition and I think you always get a lift when you are involved in it. It is going to be a difficult game up at Darlington but we need to go there and get a bit of pride back. Tuesday's game was maybe a little bit of a wake up call for us and hopefully we'll bounce back from that up at Darlington on Saturday," he continued.