Tommy Taylor's new job begins in earnest at Halifax Town today.

The Darlington manager has been in charge at Feethams for a week and today faces his first League game as Quakers search for their first three-point haul in six weeks - the last win being the 4-0 thumping of Exeter City at Feethams.

The midweek defeat at Scunthorpe in the LDV Vans Trophy - Taylor's first match in charge - meant little.

It is what happens from 3pm today that will be assessed by Darlington fans.

Taylor is hoping his training sessions will have had some effect on the Darlington players, who he feels have been lacking confidence - not surprising given the current dismal run.

"We're going through a bad patch so the players are going to have to pick themselves up and put a smile on their face," he said.

"I want more character in the side because as soon as Scunthorpe scored their heads went down. In the first half we created one or two chances.

Barry Conlon had a header near half-time and if that had gone in, we're 1-0 up and it's a different game.

"But everybody is giving me 100 per cent in training and I'm delighted with that."

Character and confidence alone aren't going to win three points at Halifax, or anywhere else for that matter, and with injuries biting into the squad, Taylor is keen on bringing in fresh faces.

He's already put a few "feelers" out and is waiting for a response, stressing he doesn't want to wait too long before making transfers.

He has stamped his authority on the squad during training and has made his tactics clear.

"I've told the players to relax and think about what they're doing," said Taylor, whose side, seven days after facing Brian Little's Hull City, come up against brother Alan's Halifax.

"We've got the nucleus of a good team and the skill is building the rest of the players around it.

"I like my teams to play football.

"The ball should be going forward and not backward. One thing I always say to players is 'look to play the ball forward, play the ball to feet, is there anybody available?'."

Taylor had already made it clear that he rates Barry Conlon and, with Neil Wainwright and Richard Hodgson providing the ammunition from the flanks, intends using the Irish forward's aerial ability as a weapon against Third Division defences.

Big, physical forwards who are a threat in the air are notorious at this level - Jason White, Leo Fortune-West, Julian Alsop and Steve Flack spring to mind - and Taylor believes Conlon is from the same mould.

"Barry Conlon is a great player and I just feel lucky to have him here," he said.

"He wins headers in the box and further back, he can hold the ball up and he's got a very powerful shot on him, so he's an excellent player to have in the side."

The ten players who join Conlon in the starting line-up today should be doing their utmost to impress Taylor, but performances like the second 45 minutes in midweek will has done little to inspire confidence in a side rapidly losing sight of the play-off positions.

However, win, lose or draw, if the saying 'first impressions count' is to be believed, nobody should take too much notice of Darlington's display at the Shay.

Taylor's was immensely impressed after his first glimpse of the Quakers this season, which was Darlington's best performance of the season as they out-played his Orient side at Feethams in September.

But since then, standards have fallen and it's up to Taylor to reverse that decline.

* Darlington have signed 17-year-old Russell Weller from the South Australian football academy.

The teenage midfielder has been on trial for the past two months and has impressed new boss Tommy Taylor

Read more about Darlington FC here.