Darlington keeper Peter Jameson is eagerly looking forward to the big kick off at Buxton on Saturday.

Quakers break new ground with the trip to Silverlands – where former Quakers Tim Ryan and Ricky Ravenhill await – and Jameson says that the whole squad can’t wait to kick off the season.

“I think pre-season has gone quite well,” he said. “Sometimes pre-season can be disjointed because we’re all part time and sometimes holidays with family interfere, plus triallists have come and gone, but I think it’s gone well. There have been positives and negatives, but that’s what pre season is all about.

“In the pre-season last year, we won a couple and lost a couple, and look what we achieved throughout the rest of the season.

“From a personal point of view, pre season games are about improving my fitness and getting my edge again.”

There’s a real buzz of anticipation and excitement in the dressing room, says Pete.

“As a squad, everybody has been eagerly looking forward to the league games beginning again. We will be up against better players, better teams, and playing on better grounds, and certainly all of the teams we’ll be up against will be better than some of the teams we played last season. All of them will come and fight for points, whereas one or two clubs maybe didn’t last season.

“All the players in our squad are very confident that we’ll do well this season. Phil Turnbull has brought authority to the team in midfield. He’s brilliant on the ball, he looks after it and is a massive asset for us. Phil has played at a higher level, and he’ll be pushing the rest of the players all the time.

“Kev Burgess, Alan White and Chris Hunter have all been brilliant in pre-season. We had a very strong back four for most of last season, and that was a big reason why we didn’t concede a lot of goals before Christmas, but now Kev has come along and made it even more solid. The experienced players who have played at this level or higher, will be really encouraging those who haven’t played here before.

“My aim is to keep a clean sheet, and if I can do that with the help of our defence, then I’m confident that with the forwards we’ve got, that we’ll score at least one or two at the other end. All our forwards, as well as Adam Mitchell and Stephen Thompson, behind them have got a huge amount of talent, and are capable of scoring goals.

“We all know what our jobs are, and we all share the ambition to take this club higher. We all want to play in National League North.”