DARLINGTON’S out of favour left-back Ian Watson is braced for a recall following an injury to Terry Galbraith.

Watson was first-choice in the position for much of last season, but lost his place in the closing stages of the campaign to Galbraith, who has continued to be Martin Gray’s preference.

But Galbraith suffered an injury early in the 2-1 defeat at Workington on Tuesday, when Leon Scott replaced him with Watson not even on the bench.

Should Galbraith fail to recover in time for tomorrow’s trek to Colwyn Bay, Watson is in line for his first start of the season.

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“Terry came off after pulling his calf,” said assistant manager Brian Atkinson. “We don’t know at the moment if he can play on Saturday, but I don’t expect he will.”

Not all supporters agree with Galbraith being selected ahead of Watson. Atkinson explained: “Terry did better in pre-season, Ian would tell you that himself I would think, and he was not on the bench on Tuesday because we had other players who can play in more than one position.”

Darlington will be aiming to win their first points on the road having lost at Buxton and Workington so far, and they play against a side who on Tuesday recovered after a poor first half to draw 2-2 at promotion favourites Salford City.

They were 2-0 behind at the break, but a change in formation did the trick, and Bay manager Ash Hoskin admitted he “lost it at half-time”.

He described the first half display as “by far the worst in my time at the club”.

“We didn’t play any football and it was totally unacceptable for the people who travelled from Colwyn Bay,” added Hoskin, speaking to his club’s official website.

“I won’t accept the players putting in a performance like that and told them so, but to be fair I got a great reaction second half.

“We changed things to a 3-5-2 because 4-4-2 wasn’t working and I thought we got in amongst them, didn’t let them dictate the way they did in the first half, and in the end I was delighted with a point.

“Now we have to take that second half performance into the next match against what will be a very, very good Darlington side on Saturday.”

Meanwhile, Darlington’s home game on Tuesday, October 6 with Salford has been postponed due to their opponents’ involvement in the Manchester Premier Cup. It has not yet been rearranged.