DARLINGTON head into unfamiliar territory today while dealing with a statistic they are not used to dealing with so soon in the campaign.

They head to Colwyn Bay having not played in Wales for three years, since travelling to Newport County in April 2012, and they do so still looking for their first point away from home.

They have not lost twice in the opening month of the season since 2009-10, defeats at Buxton a fortnight ago and at Workington on Tuesday leaving Quakers in a situation they are unaccustomed to.

The step up in quality which inevitably comes with moving up a division has already been made abundantly clear to Quakers, though the view from Darlington is that they could easily have won all four matches so far rather than just two.

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“We were a bit unfortunate on Tuesday, but we’re playing at a higher level now and concentration is more important,” said assistant manager Brian Atkinson.

“You look at the Buxton game on the first day, we got done with two set-pieces, concentration again. Not just as defenders, but the whole team, forwards giving the ball away in poor places and we’ve been punished. It’s a case of tidying everything up really.

“But we could easily be looking at four wins. We’ve been done on set-pieces at Buxton and on Tuesday we conceded a late goal on the break. Both games could’ve gone either way, they’ve been tight.”

After three years of being the dominant team in most matches, the early indications are that Quakers and their fans may now have to adjust their expectations.

“We’re seen as a big fish going into their league, but we expected this step up,” added Atkinson, speaking in the absence of manager Martin Gray, who returned to the North-East last night after a few days abroad following Tuesday’s game.

“We’re playing against a better quality of player and you’ve got a few clubs that have been at this level for a long time. That’s the nature of going up a division.

“We expect to win every week, even though it’s not going to happen. If you look across the division, already a lot of teams have lost games – only two [Blyth and Salford] have not lost yet. Only Blyth have got off to a good start and taken maximum points.

“We’re only two weeks into the season, it’s still early days, but from what I’ve seen the standard is definitely better than last season.”

The embryonic league table sees Darlington tenth with Colwyn Bay 16th having won once so far, while in midweek they drew 2-2 at Salford City, a game attended by Quakers scout Harry Dunn.

With Blyth to play on Monday at Heritage Park (3pm), globetrotting Gray may opt to change his line-up today, while Terry Galbraith’s place is uncertain due to a calf injury sustained at Workington.

Left-winger Anthony Bell is in contention to start having impressed as a substitute on Tuesday, although Atkinson hinted at a more defensive approach could be required in away games.

He added: “Maybe we need to look at what we do when we play away, maybe change things. But as I said, there’s not a lot wrong in my eyes because we could easily have had four wins.”