by Jeff King
It's Top v Second today in the Wearside League at the Eastbourne, Sports Complex, Darlington with the class of the home side Darlington Town taking on League leaders Chester-le-Street United.
Both sides have recently applied for promotion to the EBAC Northern League and know that today's clash is crucial in the step to showing they are ready to make the next progression for their Club.
Darlington may be in second place but they are only two points behind Chester and have two games in hand. They've only lost twice in their seventeen league games so for scoring 64 goals and conceding 25.
Top scorers for Town still at The Club are Axel Turner with 11, James Wilson with 10 and Vincent Gash with 7 whilst 21-year-old defender Joe Betteridge leads the way in performances with 5 Man of the Match awards.
Turner was Town's goal scorer when they lost 6 - 1 in the Durham Trophy game at Chester-le-Street late last year. A game where the aftermath has added additional spice to this afternoon's fixture that kicks off at 2:00pm.
United have a virtually fully fit and available line-up to choose from with several players returning from illness, injury and suspension.
In a footnote to this game there are three other Wearside League teams that have applied to move into the Northern League in Durham Corinthians, Gateshead Leam Rangers and Wolviston.