Caretaker boss Mick Tait believes a win against fierce rivals Hartlepool on Saturday will instill some much-needed self-belief in his side.

Tait feels his side are better than their lowly league position suggests and three points against his former club could provide the perfect springboard to what has so far been a disappointing season.

"If we can win on Saturday then the players might just start believing in themselves a bit more," said Tait.

"I think the biggest problem has been that they don't believe they're a decent side."

Despite an alarming slump of results which has seen Quakers record just one win in their last 12 games, Tait is confident of avoiding a potential relegation fight.

"We know that we need to start picking up points, but we're not panicking because we're playing well enough," said Tait.

"Hartlepool are favourites by a mile, but we'll be going into the game knowing that we're well capable of causing an upset."

Defender Stuart Whitehead and midfielder Clark Keltie are major doubts for Saturday's game.

The pair are both struggling with ankle injuries and are rated as doubtful.

Meanwhile, striker Glenn Naylor has stepped up his bid to return to full fitness after a knee operation.

However, despite returning to light training this week, Tait revealed that it would be at least two weeks before he can kick a ball again.

* Darlington Reserves beat Grimsby 5-2 at Feethams last night, with goals from Paul Campbell (2), Danny Mellanby, Martin Smith and Chris Hughes.

* Mystery surrounds Hartlepool United striker Gordon Watson's ankle injury after an initial scan showed up clear.

The injury-jinxed Pool forward, who has not played for the first team since breaking his leg against Darlington on September 14, hurt his ankle playing for the reserves at Scarborough last week.

And now Watson will undergo a second scan on his latest set-back today, which was at first feared to have been a stress fracture.

Pool boss Mike Newell said: "The scan was clear, but Gordon is still not happy and will be seeing the specialist again. He is in pain and it is stopping him doing what he wants to do. We can't say what the problem is until we know."

Meanwhile, a Pool second-string crushed Mansfield 8-0 yesterday with goals from Jermaine Easter (2), Antony Sweeney (2), Matty Robson, Steven Istead, Andy Appleby and Stephen Manson.

* York City Supporters Trust are confident they can complete a deal to take over the Third Division club within the next three weeks.

Read more about the Quakers here.