Tonight sees the 108th Football League meeting between the Imps and The Quakers making them our most frequent opponents.

The first three meetings between us were friendlies in the 1890's with Darlington winning 2-0 at John O'Gaunts in January 1891 before we won 1-0 on our old ground in November 1893. A crowd of around 200 saw Albert Flewitt score the only goal. The final meeting was again in Lincoln with the visitors winning 2-1 in December 1897. Darlington were a member of the Northern League on those three visits and stayed there until turning professional in 1908 and joining the North Eastern League and it was from that League that were elected as founder members of Division 3 North of the Football League in 1921/22.

Our first Football League meeting took place at Feethams in November and ended up 4-2 to the home side. Goals from Thomas Rippon and John Boylen (who was scoring in his third consecutive game - he scored in the next one as well and then never scored another League goal for us!) were cancelled out by two from Hugh Dickson and one apiece from ex-Imp Arthur Wolstenholme and Bill Hooper. Darlington completed the double on Boxing Day 2-0 with Aaron Travis scoring both.

Both matches the following season were drawn with the away game finishing 0-0, the first of 10 such score lines which is the most we have had against any team, whilst Levi Thorpe and Harry Pringle scored at Sincil Bank in October 1923 as we recorded our first win in the League against them.

The 1924/25 season saw Darlington win the title and we were the only team to win at Feethams (ending an unbeaten home record that had lasted 36 games), Lester Marshall scoring the only goal of the game. We lost 1-0 at Sincil Bank later in the season.

Darlington lasted two seasons in the Second Division and lost 1-0 at Sincil Bank on their first visit back. It was the second consecutive game Billy Dinsdale scored in as he went on to set a new Club record of scoring in 10 consecutive Football League games. He was on target at Feethams later in the season along with Harry Andrews but unfortunately for us and 'keeper Len Hill in particular Harry Lees and Tom Ruddy both scored hat-tricks and James McGiffen, Bob Gregg and Sandy Cochrane one apiece as Darlington recorded their biggest ever Football League win by 9-2.

Perhaps stung by that heavy defeat we went on to only lose one of the next eight meetings ending with a double in 1931/32 when it was our turn to win the title. Allan Hall and George Whyte scored in our 2-0 opening day win whilst we equalled our largest away winning margin with a 6-0 triumph in the north-east in January. Hall scored three, Frank Keetley twice and Phil Cartwright in the rout.

Like the Quakers, our stay in Division Two lasted just two seasons and we met in each of the final five completed seasons before the Second World War with honours even at four wins each and two draws. Johnny Campbell scored a hat-trick in our 4-3 home win in February 1937 whilst former City player Thomas Feeney was one of Darlington's scorers in our 3-1 defeat there in October 1938. We also met at Sincil Bank in August 1939 with the visitors winning 2-0 before the season was abandoned because of the outbreak of war.

War-time football saw meetings restricted to just the 1945/46 season when the four games between us produced Darlington wins by 6-1 and 7-2 at Feethams, 3-1 at Sincil Bank and just a single City win but by 6-2 in Lincoln. Despite all those goals no player scored a hat-trick!

When peacetime football resumed in 1946/47 the fixture list from 1939/40 was reused so Darlington became our first post war visitors to Sincil Bank. Goals from Harry Parr and Jimmy Grummett senior sent them home empty handed. The return on New Year's Day ended 4-3 to the home side in front of Feethams' biggest gate against us of 8,652.

The 1947/48 season saw us win the Third North title again and we did the double (both games finishing 3-1) but were instantly relegated back with our next meeting at Sincil Bank attracting a record gate for our games of 14,303. Ex England International John Robinson scored our first six minutes into his debut whilst war time Scottish International Jock Dodds scored the other.

1951/52 saw our third and final Northern title and a 7-2 home win over the Quakers with a hat-trick from Andy Graver, two from Harry Troops and one apiece from Ernie Whittle and John Garvie. Roy Finch scored for us in the one all draw later in the season which was the last meeting between us until 1962/63.

From then until 1975/76 we met every season bar one (1966/67 being the exception as Darlington spent one season in Division Three) in the Fourth Division and we very much had the upper hand with 14 wins to five defeats. We also knocked Darlington out of the FA Cup in a First Round replay in 1962/63 (2-1 away).

Notable results for us were a double in Darlington's promotion season (2-0 away and 4-1 at Sincil Bank), 3-0 away wins in 1969/70 (two goals from Rod Fletcher and Dave Helliwell's only goal for us) and 1973/74 and a 4-1 success there in 1974/75. Of Darlington's five successes two came at Sincil Bank, Les O'Neill scoring both in their 2-1 success in 1967/68 and future Imp Peter Graham scored a 79th minute winner in Lincoln in April 1972 to inflict our only home defeat of the season on us. Arguably it cost us promotion as we missed out by one point. Earlier in the season Graham has scored a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw at Feethams with Percy Freeman (2) and Phil Hubbard our scorers. Another future Imp Alan Harding was one of the scorers in our 3-2 away defeat in January 1971 whilst we lost 5-0 there in August 1968.

After such frequent meetings we only met eight times from then until 1988/89 in the Football League with three City wins and three draws as we both managed to get relegated to the Conference. Darlington's win at Feethams in March 1989 when they beat us 2-1 was their first home win since the previous April! We again beat them in a cup competition with a 3-1 away success in the Freight Rover Trophy in 1984/85 but bizarrely Darlo joined us in the next round by virtue of being a high scoring loser!

Both of us won the Conference at the first attempt and have once again met regularly since 1990/91 (in fact in every season bar 1991/92 & 1998/99) all in the basement Division.

Darlington achieved their biggest win at Sincil Bank in November 1990, 3-0, with goals from Gary Gill (pen), Kevan Smith and Lee Ellison. Allan Clarke was sacked as Imps boss after the game as we lay in 23rd position. Gill was again on target for the Quakers at Feethams with his last minute strike cancelling out Tony Lormor's opener in a 1-1 draw, a game that marked Matt Dickins debut in goal for us.

We did the double over them in 1992/93 with a 3-1 away success (two from Peter Costello and one Jason Lee goal with ex-Imp Paul Dobson scoring for the home side) and 2-0 at Sincil Bank on the final day of the season in Keith Alexander's first match in charge in his first spell as manager but then only won four of the next 11 meetings, losing four including a 5-2 away defeat in February 1997. We did though again knock them out of the Autoglass Trophy with a 3-2 success at Sincil Bank in 1993 and the Auto Windscreen Shield with a 1-0 away success in 1995.

Since beating the Quakers at Sincil Bank by 1-0 in October 1999 we have failed to win against them at home as their past nine visits have brought six draws and three wins. The 2-2 draw at Sincil Bank in December 2005 when a 10-man Quakers came back from two down was the final game before Keith Alexander and Gary Simpson were put on "gardening leave"

Away from home we haven't fared much better with eight defeats, three draws and just one win although by 3-0 with goals from Simon Yeo, Marcus Richardson and Richard Butcher in November 2004. James Dudgeon was sent off in our 3-1 defeat in December 2000 for surprisingly our only dismissal against Darlington with both our final visit to Feethams in November 2002 and first visit to their new ground the following November ended 0-0. The second game was the first after Keith Alexander had been rushed to hospital after collapsing at home so the result was of secondary importance.

The 2007/08 season saw us lose 2-0 in the north east, through goals from Pawel Abbott and Ricky Ravenhill, whilst the Quakers completed a comfortable double just before Christmas, winning 4-0 at Sincil Bank thanks to two goals from Micky Cummins and one apiece for Richie Foran and current Imp Clark Keltie.

Last season's game at Darlington also finished 2-0 to the Quakers, who bounced back after centre-back Steve Foster was sent off after just 14 minutes to secure the points courtesy of goals from on-loan strikers Liam Hatch and Richie Foran. The return fixture at Sincil Bank - a re-arranged game after the original fixture was postponed due to a frozen pitch - saw Darlo extend their unbeaten run on Lincoln soil to nine games as an early Danny Carlton header secured a 1-0 success.

Earlier this season a Tuesday evening Johnstone's Paint Trophy game at the Darlington Arena, which saw ex-Imp Lee Thorpe score the only goal of the game in front of just 828 spectators, was Peter Jackson's last match as City manager. Four days later and under the caretaker leadership of Simon Clark, City exacted revenge with two goals from Rene Howe and another from Chris Fagan securing a 3-0 success.

By Gary Parle