HAVING suffered a dip in form of late, Darlington today bid to make up ground on the teams above them in the table when they travel to Mickleover.

Their blank week was only their second since the start of the season and it saw them slip a place to fifth as both Buxton and Stourbridge took maximum points in their respective games.

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Jesper quits Quakers

Being without a game suited manager Martin Gray, who has seen his side win only one of their last six league and FA Cup fixtures.

That was a fortnight ago at bottom-of-the-table Ramsbottom United, a 3-0 victory that has been followed by a draw at Skelmersdale and last Saturday’s Heritage Park 1-0 loss to Marine.

“We’ve not had many free weeks since the start of the season, so it wasn’t a bad time to regroup as we had one or two niggling injuries after Saturday,” said Gray. “We got back on the training ground to do some work.

“The players’ desire and expectation to do well for this club is no different to mine. When they get little knockbacks they always come back ready to go again.”

Three of the sides ahead of Darlington are without a match today due to FA Cup commitments. Blyth Spartans, six points ahead of Quakers, play a league game having been surprisingly held 0-0 at Ramsbottom on Tuesday.

“Blyth and Ramsbottom drew, who could’ve expected that,” said Gray, speaking to the official website. “But it happens and it’ll happen throughout the season.

“We’ve got to get some consistency behind us in the run up to Christmas to keep us where we are.”

The loss to Marine last Saturday was the only the second time Quakers had failed to score in a match this season, but on reflection Gray felt his side was unfortunate and he maintains that the crucial penalty conceded by Alan White, scored midway through the second half, should not have been awarded.

He said: “We had enough chances to get something out of the game, but you have games like that.

“You don’t want it to be that way, but it was disappointing to lose the game to a soft penalty decision.

“I still think it was a soft decision and I’ve looked at the two that he didn’t give for us, but that’s football and you’ll have games like that during the season, so it’s important this weekend that we respond.”

He must do without the suspended Chris Hunter today so will hand a recall to either Lewis Gibbons or Adam Mitchell, but White’s suspension does not begin for another seven days.

There are only seven matches in the Evo-Stik Premier Division fixtures today with Hyde United among those in the FA Cup.

They defeated Darlington in the first qualifying round and, while a disappointing result, Quakers midfielder Phil Turnbull points out that it could be a blessing.

“You never want to get beat, but at Gateshead last season the Cup was a distraction sometimes,” said Turnbull, who joined in the summer from the Heed. “It’s great to go on a run, but you can end up five or six games behind other teams.

“You want to go on a run because it’s prestigious for the club and the players enjoy it, but when you get knocked out you look at the bigger picture? Are you going to win the FA Cup? No. I’d take getting promotion over anything.

“When we got knocked out I was hoping Blyth and Salford would stay in and they’d go on a Cup run and end up playing twice a week later in the season to catch up on games.

“You’ve got to take the positives out of situations.”