By Chris Sykes

Big things are expected of Darlington this season. They are one of the bookies favourites to be promoted and with a large budget provided by chairman George Houghton, manager Dave Penney enters his first full season in charge of the Quakers with high hopes of earning promotion to League 1.

Penney has drastically changed the squad throughout the summer. Since the summer, 10 players left the Darlington Arena and 13 have arrived. Amongst them, joint record signing Pawel Abbott and former Scunthorpe skipper Steve Foster, who has become Darlington's new skipper. After a busy summer, Darlington needed to show that all the signings are capable of getting them out of the division. It was essential that they got a good start. First up, Wrexham at home.

Saturday 11th August, the start of the new football season. After a pre-season which didn't yield many wins, some fans were beginning to question whether George Houghton was right in saying that this is the season that Darlington will get promoted. A solid performance and a good result were needed against a tricky Wrexham side.

Both sides looked as if they were just returning from a pre-season in the first half. The match was a lackadaisical affair with hardly any clear chances being created. The scoreline looked destined to be 0-0 when, on 42 minutes, 3 players making their debuts for Darlo combined to open the scoring. Right back Neil Austin played a superb long pass to £100,000 signing Pawel Abbott. Abbott then dinked in a delightful cross for new Scottish midfielder Kevin McBride to head home the opener. This was the breakthrough Darlington needed and they went to the break with the lead. Wrexham came out strong and had Darlington on the backfoot. Then, with 65 minutes on the clock, Wrexham striker Michael Proctor was put clean through with only Quakers keeper Andy Oakes to beat. Oakes came flying out of his area and upended Proctor. Oakes received a straight red card whilst former Quaker Ryan Valentine was fortunate to stay on the pitch after a flare up with Darlo left back Tim Ryan. From the free-kick which resulted from Oakes' foul, Darlington's number 2 keeper David Stockdale proved he was a more than able replacement, pulling off a stunning save. Minutes later, Stockdale made another fine save from Shaun Pejic's header.

For all the pressure Wrexham had, they couldn't find away past Darlington's defence and Darlington looked dangerous on the break, Abbott had a goal disallowed for offside. 72 minutes in, Julian Joachim raced through on the counter attack and hammered Darlington 2-0 ahead. Darlington had a cushion which they held onto to secure 3 points on the opening day. It was the start the Quakers were looking for.

Following the opening day win, Darlington travelled to Yorkshire to face Championship side Barnsley in the Carling Cup. The first half was similar to the opening half against Wrexham, with few chances being created. Darlo managed to hold their opponents from 2 leagues above them until midway through the second half when sloppy defending allowed Adam Ferenczi to give Barnsley the lead. Not to be outdone, Darlington hit back when Rob Purdie's cross was hit sweetly on the half volley by Tommy Wright to level up the match. Darlington couldn't however force extra time when Barnsley captain Paul Reid scored 12 minutes from the end to put Barnsley into Round 2. Despite outplaying Barnsley for much of the match, defensive errors meant Darlington were out of the Carling Cup. This could prove to be a blessing in disguise as it is 1 less competition to focus on but the downside is that extra funds won't be gained from a cup run. There is only the FA Cup left for that to happen.

Darlington's first away league away game of the season was, like last year, at Accrington Stanley. Last year, Darlington were dominant and this year was the same with Darlo looking comfortable from the kick off and when Purdie and Wright combined again to give Darlington the lead, the result rarely looked in doubt. Stanley came out strong in the second half but any hope of a comeback for the home side were shattered when Pawel Abbott prodded home his 1st goal for the Quakers from a Chris Palmer cross. Abbott added his 2nd and Darlington's 3rd from the penalty spot when Gregg Blundell was brought down inside the area. Darlington took a 3-0 win and were top, the same position after this game last year.

With 2 wins out of 2, Darlington hosted Notts County. Darlo dominated the first half with shot after shot being fired at the visitors goal. But the Quakers had to settle for a 1-0 lead when Tommy Wright calmly finished Pawel Abbott's pass. County changed the game when Andy Parkinson was brought on. It was Parkinson's cross which allowed Richard Butcher to fire home the equaliser. Darlington looked to have won the game with 4 minutes to play when Ian Miller headed just over the line. But once again, poor defending cost Darlo the 3 points. In stoppage time, Darlington had a corner, but County broke away and appalling defending allowed Richard Butcher to fire home his second of the afternoon. A disappointing result, but Darlington were still top.

Darlington wanted to return to winning ways against Macclesfield, but were lucky to come away with a point. Tim Ryan fouled Danny Thomas in the 16th minute to give Macclesfield a penalty. Kevin McIntyre drilled the shot right, but Darlington's newly established number 1 David Stockdale was equal to it and kept the penalty out. Late in the second half, Darlington substitute Ian Harty missed a glorious chance to take the points, but he fluffed his chance from 8 yards out.

Had Harty not dithered, Darlington would lead League 2 by a point. Instead, they are behind Shrewsbury by a point. However, Darlo are still unbeaten and are in 3rd place with 8 points. Next up are 4 difficult fixtures beginning with Rotherham away on the 8th September. After that, there are fixtures at home to Lincoln, away to MK Dons and at home to Peterborough. If Darlington are third come the end of the season, they will be ecstatic. But better performances are needed to reach automatic promotion. I think this is going to be another rollercoaster season.