Brown makes Darlington debut

New signing Aaron Brown comes straight into the side for his Darlington debut as one of three changes today at Kettering Town who include a surprise in their line-up. He will play at left-back in place of Kevin Austin who sustained a thigh injury during Tuesday's draw at Altrincham. Also in the side are Tommy Wright and Josh Gray came off the bench to good affect in midweek. Their inclusion sees manager Mark Cooper switch to 4-4-2 and he leaves Chris Senior and Richard Offiong on the bench. There is a surprise in the Kettering squad who include former Darlington and Sunderland winger Martin Smith in their squad. Smith counts nearby Northampton among his previous clubs and it was at Sixfields where he played alongside Kettering boss Lee Harper. He scored two memorable goals for Darlington during November 2006, a looping volley at Lewes in the FA Cup and then a long-range scorcher versus Mansfield in the Football League Trophy. Nicknamed 'Son of Pele' during his Sunderland days, Smith retired through injury in 2008 and has recently been training with Northern League club Newton Aycliffe. But he signed on non-contact terms yesterday and is on the bench at Rockingham Road. Darlington are aiming to continue their good start to the season which has featured a draw and a win from their opening two matches. Kettering, in contrast, have collected one point from two games and already have three suspensions for today's game with Ian Roper, Sol Davis and Iyseden Christie all out. Kettering Town (4-3-3): Abbey; Dempster, Graham, Westwood, Taylor; Noubissie, Boucaud, Dance; Makofo, Furlong, Marna. Subs: Harper (gk), Ashikodi, Jaszczun, Solkhon, Smith. Darlington (4-4-2): Russell; Arnison, Miller, Hone, Brown; G Smith, Chandler, Terry, Gray; Wright, Hatch. Subs: Jack (gk), Clarke, McReady, Senior, Offiong

Source: Northern_Echo