MARK Bower will continue as captain when Darlington play at Torquay tomorrow as Ian Miller’s injury is more severe than initially thought.

The defender suffered a hamstring strain during last week’s defeat at Notts County which sidelined him for the visit of Bradford City.

That opened the door back into the first-team for Bower and he will keep his place at Plainmoor tomorrow.

Assistant manager Kevin Richardson said: “Ian’s hamstring is worse than we thought.

“We didn’t think it was too serious last week, but the hamstring is a very delicate muscle and obviously he has hurt it more than the physio Will Short thought.

“He has just started doing light training with Will and hopefully there’ll be no reaction to that and he might be available next week.”

Quakers will also be without former skipper Steve Foster.

His contract row rumbles on but it because of injury that he won’t travel to Devon this morning.

He suffered an injury in a reserve game at York City on Wednesday, a match arranged for players in need of match fitness.

Darlington-born midfielder Dan Groves has also suffered an ankle knock, and Richardson said: “Steve injured his ankle against York and his foot is all black and blue.

“He would have been in the squad, but Steve went in for a strong tackle with their fullback and the full-back hurt himself as well as Steven.”

Quakers are reluctant to select Foster in their starting line-up unless he removes a clause from his contract that would entitle him to another deal, though that does not apply to substitute outings.

Richardson added: “The contact situation has been highlighted quite a bit and at the moment it’s still in the same position.”

Paul Arnison, Gary Smith and Mark Convery were among those who also featured in Wednesday’s game at KitKat Crescent, a 3-2 defeat.

Winger Nathan Mulligan, who has recovered from an ankle injury, played part of the match with Noel Whelan.

No date has been set for his comeback but he continues to make steady progress.

Richardson said: “Noel played half a game and he’s had a few days of training but it’s steady as we go with him.

He’s keen, he wants to do more than what he should, that’s just the way Noel is.

“It’s a case of getting him fit and making sure he doesn’t aggravate anything else and he’s just glad to be back among things in training.”

Midfielder Chris Lumsdon is still in light training as he continues his recovery from a back injury that has kept him on the sidelines since August