Following Saturday's narrow win over Chester City David Hodgson moved quickly to explain why he left substitute Bobby Petta on the sidelines.

With Darlington struggling to make the breakthrough against a struggling Chester City the former Feyenoord ace, who has just returned from a hamstring injury, stayed on the bench alongside fellow winger, Neil Wainwright.

As the clock ticked away with Quakers seemingly unable to open up a stubborn rearguard, supporters called for the duo to be introduced but Hodgson ignored their pleas and instead opted to bring on Mark Convery and Akpo Sodje.

Hodgson was reluctant to risk losing Petta through injury, especially after learning Craig Hignett requires a hernia operation which will sideline him for most, if not all, of the remaining games.

Hodgson explained: "I told him he would only play if we had an emergency, but we never had an emergency.

"I didn't want Bobby on the pitch in case we ended up losing him with an injury again.

"I'd have maybe given him five minutes, I'd have been comfortable with that, but no more.

"Bobby's only just recovered from a hamstring strain so I was very conscious that, had he gone on and pulled up again, I'd have lost a major player for a few more weeks which we cannot afford.

"He was surprised he was even on the bench because he only trained properly for the last couple of days.

"So I made other another substitution, not to the delight of the fans, but we ended up winning."

Bringing on Convery and Sodje did the trick as Convery was involved in winning a late penalty while Sodje's aerial ability added an extra dimension to Quakers' attacking options.

Those options are already stretched with Alun Armstrong not expected back for another week with a calf problem while midfielder Jonjo Dickman limped off after only ten minutes with a hamstring strain.

* Yeovil missed the chance to go top of Coca-Cola League Two after late goals gave Rushden & Diamonds victory at Nene Park.

Rushden, who are battling to avoid relegation, grabbed a vital three points after Stuart Gray opened the scoring with eight minutes remaining in the match.

William Sharp scored a second in the 88th minute to ensure the 2-0 victory and deny Gary Johnson's side a place at the summit, with Southend top after Friday night's win against Bristol Rovers.

Wycombe's play-off hopes were boosted after Nathan Tyson smashed in a hat-trick against Kidderminster, while Swansea moved into third after a 3-0 win against Cambridge at the Vetch Field.

Read more about the Quakers here.