DARLINGTON’S preparations for tomorrow’s match at Barnet were thrown into chaos yesterday when the administrator cancelled the team’s overnight stay.

The decisions means Dave Penney’s players must undergo a near five-hour coach journey down the A1 on the morning of the game.

Quakers had expected to start the 460-mile round trip this morning, before stopping for training en route to the team hotel.

But Penney was last night digesting the late change of plan and he admitted: “It’s not ideal.

“We’re not staying overnight which we had planned to until this morning when I got a call from the administrator saying we have to travel on Saturday.

“It means we can’t prepare as well as we should. We had planned to travel first thing Friday, train down there and stay in a hotel.”

Travelling by train from the North-East would provide a quicker alternative, but Penney explained: “You can’t guarantee trains, but if the coach breaks down we can get another coach to come and get us.

“All these things are stacking up against us. We’ve got eight games left, we’re just going to have to give it our best shot.”

Quakers also encountered a problems at Exeter earlier this month when a mix-up with a credit card resulted in the squad leaving a hotel with their bill unpaid.

That game was three days after Darlington went into administration so they did not have a credit card or cheque book.

The situation was soon resolved but Penney has suggested that the recent glut of injuries could be a result of the club’s financial woes.

He revealed that Darlington were having weekly yoga sessions that came to an end a month ago, since when the squad has been severely depleted.

Penney said: “We were having loads of injuries last season, but one of the things we did differently at the start of this season was yoga.

“I don’t know whether it was a coincidence or not, but we stopped having so many injuries. Then in the last four or five weeks they haven’t been doing yoga and we got injuries.

“We’ve also had lots of games which have caused tiredness so maybe it was just a coincidence, I’m not sure.

“She (the yoga trainer) used to come in every Monday but stopped when we went into administration. But we had her back in this week, she came in for nothing which was good of her.”

Quakers’ sick list is gradually shortening with Neil Austin expected to be on the bench tomorrow after recovering from a hamstring strain.

But Steve Foster is to have a scan on a stomach strain so will not feature while Robin Hulbert (hamstring) is rated at 50/50 after suffering a reaction following Tuesday’s runout at Accrington as a substitute.