PREVIEW: Hatters hold the edge over Darlington

The only defeat came back in the the 2008-09 season when goals from Billy Clarke and Claude Gnakpa had cancelled each other out, only for Gregg Blundell to pop up with a last-minute winner for the Quakers.

Hatters have taken a liking for goals when Darlo come to town though, hitting 10 past their opponents on the last three ocasions.

It’s an important campaign for Darlington this year as they don’t to follow the route of other sides who have found themselves stuck in the Conference after relegation from the Football League.

Although the Quakers won the FA Trophy last season, beating Mansfield 1-0 in the final at Wembley, it was an ultimately frustrating campaign as they finished in seventh place, seven points outside the play-offs.

Changes were made to the squad in the close season, with Kevin Austin, Chris Moore, Dan Burn, Adam Quinn, Jow Clarke and Michael Smith all moving on as Graeme Lee, Adam Rundle and Ryan Bowman joined, while Chris Atkinson has been signed on loan from Huddersfield.

Transfer deadline day saw the Northern Echo Arena side release Tommy Wright, while striker Michael Smith was snapped up by Charlton Athletic.

Quakers did pick up Spanish defender Jonatan Sanchez-Munoz though and its been a decent start to the new campaign too for Darlington as they sit in sixth place with seven points from their 11 games.

Team news: Hatters should have both Dean Beckwith and Jake Howells available after they missed the 1-1 draw at Stockport County on Friday. George Pilkington, Shane Blackett, Freddie Murray and Dan Gleeson are all getting close, while despite having a run out for the reserves, Charlie Henry remains some way off a return.

Darlington have extended the loan spell of Oxford full back Ben Purkiss for a further two months, but they are expected to make changes after the dismal 2-0 defeat at home to Mansfield.

Manager Mark Cooper hauled off Kris Taylor before half time as the defender is now unlikely to start at Kenilworth Road, while new signing Sanchez-Munoz is cleared to play.

In charge: Mark Cooper – tough tackling central midfielder who started his career at Bristol City, and although had spells at Birmingham and Hartlepool, it was with Exeter he made his name, making over 130 appearance in two spells.

Became player-manager of Tamworth, leading them to an FA Cup third round tie at Stoke City, before moving to Kettering.

League side Peterborough came calling, in a managerial stint that lasted just 12 games, before he was unveiled as the Quakers boss on June 29, 2010.

From the dug out: Mark Cooper - It’s a tough ask to go to Kenilworth Road, it’s always a hostile, partisan atmosphere, with big crowds. So we have to deal with that.

“Luton are a massive club at our level, they’ve signed some really good players and have some amazing attacking options. We’ll have to try and counter that.

“They’ve signed the likes of Stuart Fleetwood, who at our level is a really potent striker.

“But we have to try and concentrate on our game and put something in place that can give them a few problems.

“We watched them last Friday at Stockport (County) and there are one or two things there we can work on.

“The manager’s done really well, got them in the play-off final last year and I’m sure he’ll have them up there again this year.”

One to watch: Marc Bridge-Wilkinson - inventive midfielder who made his loan spell from Carlisle to Darlington permanent in January of this year.

Started life at Derby County, but moved to Port Vale where he made over 100 appearances and showcased his eye for goal too, netting more than 31 times.

Lengthy stints at Bradford and Carlisle followed, before the 32-year-old has now settled in Darlington.

Familiar faces: Liam Hatch – signed by Mick Harford in July 2009, the striker made 22 appearances for Hatters scoring four goals.

Made his name at Barnet, before a big money £150,000 move to Peterborough followed, until loan spells at Kenilworth Road and then Darlington. Signed for Darlo permanently in January and despite being used in defence at times last season, still managed to pop up with 11 goals.

Top scorers: Amari Morgan-Smith (4) – Ryan Bowman (2)

We’ve met before: A frustrating evening on February 1 was brought to life when Hatters ran in four goals in the final 22 minutes.

Claude Gnakpa got things underway, netting from 25 yards, before Lloyd Owusu added two more and then Alex Lawless finished things off with an audacious outside of the foot finish.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Dan Gleeson, Jake Howells, George Pilkington, Zdenek Kroca, Claude Gnakpa, Keith Leane, Alex Lawless, Amari Morgan-Smith (Robbie Willmott 57), Matthew Barnes-Homer (Jason Walker 46), Lloyd Owusu (Luke Graham 85).

Attendance: 5,770.