Darlington's players will undergo a 90-minute audition today as they take on Hull City in an attempt to put themselves in the good books of new manager Tommy Taylor.

The latest incumbent of the Quakers hot-seat will watch the game from the stands, leaving assistant Mick Tait to take control of proceedings as Taylor assesses his new charges - all of whom should be looking to grab his attention.

Today marks a fresh start for the team who have faltered over the past month, spoiling a promising start to the campaign, and Tait says the players must impress at the first opportunity.

"They'd be stupid not to," admitted Tait who, in Hull boss Brian Little, will be pitting his wits against the man who brought to him Feethams as a players ten years ago.

"They'll know he's up there in the stand watching so it's up to them to impress him.

"He'll already know a fair bit about the players. He'll be aware of quite a few of them because some of them have been in the division for a while.

"There'll be some he knows better than others and over the next few weeks he'll get to know then all.

"He'll meet them all tomorrow morning when he arrives and he'll be asking me one or two things about whose been playing well this season."

As well as marking the beginning of new era, today's game is vital to Darlington's promotion prospects - they can't afford to lose a fourth game in a row.

A defeat would be the second consecutive home reverse in a month which has become a nightmare for Darlington.

Quakers came into October knowing that all five fixtures were going to be tough, and so far they've managed to lose three from three with the other game - Shrewsbury away last week - being postponed.

And Tait knows that in Hull, he couldn't ask for a much tougher game for his solitary match in charge.

"They're a very good side with quality all over the park, which is what you'd expect after the players they brought in over the summer," he said.

"They've got two excellent wingers, two athletic centre-halves and two great forwards. Michael Reddy has gone back to Sunderland now but they've still got Alexander and Dudfield up front.

"It's time we put it right again. The performances have been OK but not as good as they were at the start of the season and the results have shown that. We've slipped a little bit.

"It'll be a real hard game for us so it's up to us go out there and give it all we've got."

Despite improving during the week, Darlington will again be without Mark Ford, who is struggling with a persistent knee injury.

"He's been training this week and we thought he was going to be ready for Saturday but he's not as fit as we hoped. We have missed him, the results show that," said Tait.

Neil Wainwright misses today's game after picking up a one-match ban for the red card he received in the 1-0 defeat against Mansfield two weeks ago.

The most likely candidate to replace him is ex-Hull player Steve Harper, but Mark Convery is capable of slotting into a right-midfield berth having covered for Wainwright this season.

* With 2,000 making the trip from Humberside, Hull City fans will occupy the South Terrace this afternoon with Darlington supporters being allowed to use the West Stand, for which tickets are available until noon.

Read more about the Quakers here.