National cups are something special for many teams and supporters. Today's match will decide whether it's Southport or Darlington that keep their silverware dream alive.
Both contenders have had ample time to rest since their previous competitive action. Let's agree to expect an in-your-face game!
Southport form and stats
Last season, Southport's Fa Trophy journey ended in the 5th round.In general it's been a long time since Southport tasted defeat here at Haig Avenue, as they have taken at least one point from their last ten home games in the league.
The Southport supporters enjoyed the previous match, watching their team host Alfreton Town in Vanarama National League North and win 2-0.
Preceding that game was the away draw at Leamington that finished 1-1.The bookmakers consider this a fairly even contest. One could say only the home advantage separates the teams. It could be relevant to look at how Southport have performed in matches similar to this (as small favourites). Our database has found 13 matches with the results: Won five, drawn three and lost five.
The match schedule is unforgiving for Southport as they have a new game in only four days, a Vanarama National League North match thankfully also at home. Hereford are visiting.
Southport have prepared for this season with five friendly games versus mixed opposition. Results from training matches should always be treated with caution, but the takeaways from these five matches are 3 victories, 0 draws and 2 losses. In these games, Southport have scored 6 goals and conceded 7 times.
Darlington form and stats
They also participated in Fa Trophy last season. This ended in the quarter-finals.Darlington are travelling again after losing away to Boston United in their previous match (0-2).
A draw for Darlington before that, at their own venue hosting Gloucester City (2-2).As mentioned above, this is an open game with no clear favourite. We have found 15 similar matches played by Darlington in our archives, and the results are: eight wins for Darlington, two draws and five defeats.
It's a day of discovery for Darlington as they finally learn what impact all the hours of pre-season training, along with the changes in personnel, have had on their performance in an official game. It's never easy knowing what to expect based on friendly games, of which Darlington have played one with the results W0-D0-L1 (win-draw-lost). In these games Darlington has scored 1 goal and conceded 5 times.
Head 2 Head
Head-2-head stats last six meetings: three - two - one (Southport wins - draws - Darlington wins). As for goals, two matches ended with three or more goals (over 2,5), four had two or less.Top Goalscorers
  M. Carver 10 goals |   L. Charman 7 goals | W. Hatfield 5 goals |
Southport missing players
Darlington missing players
| Southport | Darlington | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 15 | Played | P | 12 | 25 | ||
| 10 | 7 | Won | W | 3 | 8 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Drew | D | 2 | 5 | ||
| 8 | 4 | Lost | L | 7 | 12 | ||
| 39 | 26 | Scored | S | 13 | 41 | ||
| 36 | 21 | Conceded | C | 19 | 38 | ||
| 92% | 93% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 100% | 96% | ||
| 84% | 87% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 75% | 80% | ||
| 60% | 53% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 58% | 68% | ||
| 36% | 40% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 33% | 40% | ||
| 24% | 33% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 0% | 20% | ||
| 64% | 53% | BTTS | BTTS | 50% | 60% | ||
| 20% | 27% | Clean Sheets | C S | 8% | 20% | ||
| 24% | 27% | Failed to Score | F T | 42% | 24% | ||
| 4.5 | 3.6 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 4 | 4.7 | ||
| 6.1 | 5.9 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.9 | 3.7 | ||
| 1.2 | 1.3 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 1.8 | 1.7 | ||
| 1 | 1 | Red cards | R C | 2 | 4 | ||
| 9.7 | 9.5 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 8.5 | 10.7 | ||
| 4.2 | 3.9 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 3.4 | 4.3 | ||
| 37% | 44% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 32% | 38% | ||
| 13.8 | 13.1 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 9.2 | 9.4 | ||
| 4.7 | 4.6 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 3.4 | 3.8 | ||