Alfreton have frustrated many teams with their playing style of high balls and long throws, which might not be pretty, but has been effective during manager Billy Heath’s time in charge.
“We did a bit on Tuesday on how we’re going to try and beat them, and then on Thursday we did some out of possession stuff and their strengths.
“They’re a side that’s been in the league for a few years and they always seem to be in the top half.
“We know what their challenge will be, and it’s up to us to nullify that.”
Quakers started the campaign with a 3-2 home defeat by Chorley last week, after being in the lead twice with goals by Cedric Main and Will Hatfield.
“There were lots of positives in the Chorley game,” said Mitchell. “We scored twice for the eighth time this season in the friendlies and the league. We said last year that not scoring enough goals was our Achilles heel, so to score twice against a team that finished in the play offs last season was a positive. But the negative was that we conceded three, so that’s something we need to address.
“We dominated the ball before they had a man sent off, but they sat on us in the second half. The bottom line was, that we played some really good football, created a lot of chances and we got into the final third a lot of times.”
Mitchell says that nobody is downhearted after the Chorley defeat.
“It’s a 46-game season, and that was only the first game. We won’t win every game, and it will be Christmas before the league takes shape. We want to be up there around the play offs – so let’s gauge ourselves after we’ve played 20 games near Christmas.
One plus for Darlington is that the international clearance of former Queen’s Park defender Josh Scott has finally come through, so he’ll be able to play, while midfielder Tom Platt might be included in the squad after returning to training this week.
Defender Alfie Myers-Smith is slowly improving but will be out for at least another month, while defender Kallum Griffiths and midfielder Matty Cornish, who scored in the 1-1 draw at Alfreton last season, won’t be fit in time.
Alfreton finished in the middle of the table last season, and drew their first game of the season at newcomers Bedford last week.
