Big spell ahead for the Quakers

22 February 2011 12:19
Darlington this evening begin a spell of four successive home games that could prove pivotal to the season's outcome.[LNB] Mark Cooper's side are 11 points off the last play-off spot which is currently occupied by Fleetwood Town, who visit The Northern Echo Arena in seven days.[LNB] Before that comes Saturday's intriguing FA Trophy tie at home to Salisbury City, but first up is tonight's home encounter with sixth-placed Kidderminster Harriers.[LNB] This series of crucial home games, the last of which is against Cambridge United a week on Saturday, is sure to test Darlington's already under-strength squad.[LNB] Striker Liam Hatch is out as he serves the final game of a two-match ban, while there question marks of the availability of Dan Burn, Jamie, Chandler and Greg Taylor.[LNB] Burn sustained a minor knee injury last week so was rested for Saturday's 1-1 draw at Forest Green Rovers, a match in which Chandler was used a substitute due to the early exit of Taylor with a pelvic problem.[LNB] Chandler though, on the bench as he had not fully recovered from a calf injury, reported no immediate concerns after putting in a man of the match display.[LNB] Chris Senior is not yet considered fully fit since recovering from a knee problem that kept him on the sidelines for three months, while John Campbell has missed two games with a broken hand.[LNB] The club have suffered a terrible run of injuries, though Paul Terry is edging closer to a comeback.[LNB] He has been out since October with cruciate ligament damage but joined in the warm-up on Saturday, while Gareth Waite hopes to return in late March.[LNB] The injuries are ridiculous, it's crazy, said Cooper.[LNB] It's something we have to look at but I'm not sure it's something we could've done much about because most of the injuries have come in matches and not training.[LNB] Dan Burn tweaked his knee ligament last Tuesday against Cambridge and with Adam Quinn not being able to play on Saturday we didn't want to risk Dan so gave him a rest at Forest Green to try and get his knee 100 per cent.[LNB] Jamie trained on Friday and had a little reaction to his injury.[LNB] We've got a lot of games coming up so we thought we'd rather he missed Saturday so he'd be available for the rest of the season rather than risk him.[LNB] You're going to miss people like Liam Hatch and John Campbell because they've done well, but we're not going to cry about it.[LNB] We haven't got those players for different reasons, it's as simple as that, and that's why you have a squad, to cover.[LNB] Hopefully we'll have 11 fit players on Tuesday but whatever the team is we will be trying to pass the ball, get forward and score some goals.[LNB] Despite having so many matches still to play, having games in hand on most of their Blue Square Bet Premier rivals, Cooper does not envisage resting players.[LNB] He said: If I rest players I'd get accused of chopping and changing.[LNB] I've been accused of making too many changes and now it could be people saying you shouldn't have played him, you should've rested him'. That's the joys of being a manager.[LNB] Every game is equally important because there's players out of contract and we aren't going to discuss them until the end of the season.[LNB] So the players have got to earn a new contract between now and the end of the season, every game is important.[LNB]

Source: Northern_Echo