Darlington Preview

Swansea v Darlington - Match Preview

SWANSEA V DARLINGTON - MATCH PREVIEW

It hasn't been the best of weeks for Welsh football, with defeats for the Swans at Northampton and Euro 2004 heartbreak for the national side against Russia on Wednesday night. So it'll be up to Brian Flynn's Swans to lift the spirits of the Vetch Field faithful against Saturday's opponents Darlington.

Flynn will still be without several key players on Saturday with Martinez and Maylett still two and three weeks away from fitness respectively. There is good news in that Leon Hylton is fit again and should play a part in the game. Lenny Johnrose is expected to be in the starting line-up after the departure of loan signing Mark Wilson.

Quakers boss David Hodgson will name the same side that picked up a point against Lincoln last weekend, the only change will be Michael Price in goal who replaces Ross Turnbull after his call-up to the England U-20 squad.

Flynn will be hoping that his Swans side can find the scoring touch which has eluded them in the League of late, and three points on Saturday will be most welcome after picking up only 9 points out of the last 24.

With the Swans having slipped to sixth in the table, nothing less than three points on Saturday will do if we are to see ourselves as serious promotion candidates at the end of the season. You could say that a home game against Darllington is the perfect opportunity to do just that, as the Quakers haven't won a League game in the last eight attempts and are currently just one point above the relegation places. That coupled with the fact that they haven't won an away game in the League this season, may point to the result being a foregone conclusion in some peoples minds. But let's remember that sequences like this are there to be broken and it would be fatal to right off Darlington's chances before a ball has even been kicked.

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