This time last year relegation to the Conference was all but assured for Matt Clarke.

The gangly defender was then part of a Halifax side which had seemingly consigned itself to life outside the Football League almost as soon as the very first ball had been kicked during the 2001/02 season.

Rooted to the foot of the Third Division for much of the campaign, the Shaymen were finally put out of their misery in an April Fool's Day 5-0 reverse at Feethams, a game which ironically saw the Clarke sent off.

On a personal note, Clarke's season was to take another unexpected turn for the worse when he was shown the door by the Yorkshiremen.

Handed a lifeline by Quakers' boss Tommy Taylor during the summer, Clarke arrived with a fresh air of optimism.

But as the 23-year-old will be the first to admit, nothing is certain in football, and once again the former Wolves trainee finds himself in familiar territory.

"It's one of those things you don't like to speak about too often," said Clarke.

"Before we'd arrived at Darlington for that game the damage had already been done.

"Going down with Halifax was a very disappointing time in my career. It was a lot worse last year because we were down there all season.

"The morale was really low and we knew long before the season had finished that we were going down.

"We didn't even look like winning any games and it didn't really come as much of a surprise when we were relegated.

"It was a total different scenario to what we're involved in at the moment."

An alarming slump in results has seen Quakers claim just one win from their last 12 games and just four points now separate them from the relegation zone with eight games to go.

"I think all the lads know how serious it is and I don't think any of them think we're safe by any means," said Clarke.

"We're in it as much as anyone at the bottom and we've all got to stick together.

"We still have points in hand but we still need to realise the seriousness of the situation we're in because we're by no means out of trouble."

The midweek defeat at fellow strugglers Boston has done little to lift spirits ahead of this afternoon's crunch visit to promotion-chasing Scunthorpe.

"No-one wants to be in this position, but we have to face it and deal with it," said Clarke.

"We all know that we've been capable of doing far better, but the amount of draws we've had has let us down badly.

"We need to start putting our chances away otherwise things aren't going to get any better.

"There's no other way of looking at it, we need points and quickly.

"I don't agree with it when people say they are too good to go down.

"The table doesn't lie and if you're at the bottom you're there for a reason."

Darlington boss Mick Tait could hand a full debut to Jim Corbett today after he impressed after coming on as a second-half substitute against Boston. Striker Danny Mellanby may have to make way.

Gary Pearson may also have to settle for a place on the bench as left-back Ryan Valentine returns from suspension.

Defender Stuart Whitehead is again likely to miss out with a troublesome ankle injury.

Tait will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last year's visit to Glanford Park when Quakers went down to a 7-1 defeat.

Scunthorpe boss Brian Laws will include former Newcastle and Norwich striker Paul Dalglish in his squad after he arrived on loan from Blackpool this week.

Read more about the Quakers here.