WREXHAM kick off their League Two campaign with a tough trip north east where they face Dave Penney's Darlington.

After a nail-biting 3-1 win at home to Boston United on the final day of last season, Wrexham can look forward to another season in League Two. Brian Carey has been able to strengthen his side with a host of new signings, and he will hope that the Dragons can make a drastic improvement in league position after the trials and tribulations of last season.

Darlington are certainly looking to mount a promotion push for the coming season. Boss Dave Penney has added no less than twelve new faces to his squad, including Andy Oakes (Swansea City), Rob Purdie (Hereford) and Pawel Abbott (Swansea City).

Although they flirted with the playoff places for most of last season, they eventually slipped into mid-table finishing in 11th place in League Two. With only two players departing the north east club this summer, they will have a squad to rival any in the division.

Darlo will look to start the campaign much better than they ended the last. Stockport County visited the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena back in May, with County looking to sneak into the playoff places. Dave Penney's side slumped to an embarrassing 5-0 home defeat, and despite the impressive victory, County missed out on the playoffs at the expense of Bristol Rovers, who went on to gain promotion to League One.

The Quakers have not had the best of pre-seasons in terms of results, gaining just one win from their five games. They ended their league preparations with a 0-0 draw away to Whitby, after defeats against Leeds, Middlesbrough and Gretna.

One to Watch

Pawel Abbott has been prolific in the lower leagues during his time with Huddersfield Town. After scoring 44 goals in 78 league games for Town, Swansea City splashed out £150,000 to secure his services back in January. However he did not find goals easy to come by at the South Wales club, scoring just once in his 18 appearances.

He joined Darlington in pre-season for a fee of £100,000, and after dropping back into League Two football, the Polish striker is likely to be one of the league's top scorers come the end of ther season.

The Dragons wrapped up their pre-season with a 7-0 win away to Buckley Town, with winger Josh Johnson getting the headlines after contributing with four goals. However as well as the result, Manager Brian Carey will have been delighted that Steve Evans and Matt Crowell came through the game with no ill-effects after returning from injury.

The phrase 'injury-crisis' seemed to be repeated every week during last season's campaign, and thankfully Carey's side will start the new season in much better shape than they finished it. With new signings Richard Hope, Eifion Williams, Anthony Williams, Conall Murtagh and Michael Proctor, Carey has added greater depth to his side and will certainly have more options available to him.

Last Time Out

Wrexham travelled to the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena back in January, and were unlucky not to come away with all three points. Simon Spender burst through to put the Dragons 1-0 up, but a Tommy Wright penalty in first half injury time meant the points were shared.

It was another tight affair at The Racecourse earlier in the season, with Wrexham sneaking the win courtesy of a Darren Holloway own goal.

Elsewhere in League Two:

Bradford v Macclesfield
Brentford v Mansfield
Chester v Chesterfield
Grimsby v Notts County
Hereford v Rotherham
Lincoln City v Shrewsbury Town
MK Dons v Bury
Morecambe v Barnet
Peterborough v Rochdale
Stockport v Dagenham & Redbridge
Wycombe v Accrington Stanley

Ben Roberts

Simon Spender scores at Darlington last season