WHILE anxious to play down the local derby aspect, Darlington player-coach Phil Lancaster is expecting a keen tussle with Darlington Mowden Park today.

The teams meet at Blackwell Meadows in a Durham Cup semi-final and Lancaster is confident of closing the gap after losing the final 27-9 at Mowden last season.

"We have to be confident," he said. "We are playing well and we are stronger than last season because players have developed and new ones have come in.

"It's always nice to play at home. I don't like the term local derby, although it's always difficult to get that out of people's minds.

"I prefer to see it as a cup match between two sides who are having excellent seasons. It should be a really good game with a good crowd."

The pitch has been rolled and is said to be as flat as a billiard table, the only worry being that the frost does not come out of the ground.

But with a 3pm kick-off, a decision will be left as late as possible.

Mowden's injuries should leave the backs well matched, with the visitors having the one real flier in Steve Jones in the absence of Paul Beattie.

But Mowden will still have the edge up front and it will be interesting to see how they choose to exploit it.

Normally they adopt the same free-flowing style as their hosts, but with Phil Harvey, Kevin McCallum, Matt Howland and Tony Elwine missing there will be an obvious temptation to wear Darlington down through the forwards.

Although the strapping is off, Beattie is still ruled out by his hand injury, and Darlington's only other casualty is lock Neil Burnside.

They have drafted Army man Sandy Fitzpatrick into the squad, along with Mark Turnbull, and must choose between the two in the second row.

But Lancaster's most difficult choice is which of his props to leave among the six replacements. He will probably start himself, leaving Dan Miller or Joe Osleton to come on in the second half.

The back row of Del Lewis, Bryan Dixon and Martin Howe picks itself, but the lack of cover here is one area where Darlington definitely lag behind as Mowden have Shaun Cassidy and Del Russell as back-up for their trio of Tony Irwin, Darren McKinnon and Aaron Radaelli.

With Jonny Golightly at full back, Mowden have opted for John Stewart alongside Mark Bedworth at centre, although they also have the option of switching Mick Kent from the wing.

Mowden also have an advantage in the goal-kicking department through Kevan Oliphant. Although winger Marc Potts topped 400 points last season, he has been out of the Darlington team for much of this campaign and David Glendenning continues to do the kicking.

Both sides have an Army scrum half on the bench and they were in opposition during Wednesday night's match at Blackwell Meadows. Mowden's Mark Walker played for the Army, while David Edwards was in the Darlington line-up.

Blaydon have new signing David Dalrymple, a New Zealander studying at Northumbria University, at fly half for their North Division One match at Chester.

Stockton's player-coach Alan Brown is due to make his first start of the season in the friendly at home to Gateshead.

Brett Wildridge is unavailable, but flanker Ian Todd, centre Joff Staples and hooker Danny Muirhead all return.

Tynedale's National Division Three North match at Sedgley Park has been called off because of the foot-and-mouth epidemic. They have seven farmers in their side and five other players live in the infected area.

The Durham Under 20 match against Cumbria at Wigton tomorrow has also been postponed and is likely to be rescheduled for early April.

The match against Lancashire at Gateshead, called off last month, will also be fitted in after the match against Yorkshire at Darlington on March 25