Darlington vs Swansea

After beating Newport 3-1 in the opening round, Swansea City head North to face League 2 side Darlington in the second round of the FA Cup.

Both teams will be right up for this one with the prospect of a big Premiership club in the next round as the top flight teams are introduced into the competition.

You know sod's law will see us lose and Darlington get drawn to face Manchester United, and a win will probably see us drawn away again at Basingstoke!

b>Kenny Jackett: 'We want to be in the draw for the third round. Not only will it mean a lot financially to draw a big club, but it will also be fantastic for the fans.

'It's going to be tough up there. They are at home, have a new manager and are on a good run.

'There's not going to be a lot in it, but I'm convinced it's going to be a really entertaining game.''

Dave Penney, Darlington boss: 'We are at home and as you can see from the cup exploits last season at my previous club anything can happen on the day. That said Swansea are a very good, very strong side and they don't get beat very often. It is going to be a tough tie,'

'It's always nice to play against your old teams,''

'I really enjoyed my football at Swansea, probably more than at any other stage in my career.

'But sentiment does go out of the window in these situations. I want us to continue our good run and progress to the third round of the cup.

'We're full of confidence, but we know it's not going to be easy because Swansea have so many good players.''

Clarke Keltie returns after serving suspension and he is expected to replace Ngoma in centre midfield.

Martin Smith is likely to start on the left wing after being rested in midweek.

Julian Joachim is also still not quite match fit.

Holloway, Hutchinson(injured), Albrighton and Griffith (cup-tied) are all out.

Brian Flynn tried to sign him when he was manager here and the big striker has returned to Darlington and is currently their top scorer in the league with 6 goals in 11 starts.

Swansea City have left back Sylvain Meslian after signing a 1-month contract this week. He's on standby as Jackett is still unsure on the status of loanee Marcos Painter who currently has an ankle injury.

Ian Craney is cup tied following his signing from Accrington Stanley while Dennis Lawrence is available after recovering from a neck injury that forced to leave the field last week against Darlington.

Challenged by Jackett to become the best player at the club, Britton was my and many others' man of the match last week and is starting to perform to a level he is capable of after a quie start to the season. The little right-winger is sure to cause problems tomorrow.

Dave Penney has done superbly since becoming Darlo's new boss with a 100% record - 6 games - 6 wins.

Darlington are currently 8th in League Two, 5 points adrift of the automatic places.

Swans stand in 6th place in League One, and edge the total wins between the 2 sides with 15 wins compared to Darlington's 13 against the Swans. The two sides have drawn 16 times before.

We have also never beaten Darlington at Darlington! We last beat them at the Vetch in the 2004/05 season, we won 2-1.

I think it'll be a very tough game but we should edge it, I predict a 2-1 swans win although I wouldn't be surprised if we have to take them back to the Liberty Stadium in a replay.

Tuesday 5th December:
Brighton vs Swansea
7:45pm kick off.

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