CRAIG Hignett admits he was left "embarrassed" by last Saturday's performance against Notts County and has backed his teammates to get Darlington's season on track at Wycombe tomorrow.

Quakers slipped out of the play-off places following the 2-1 home defeat to struggling County, arguably their worst display of the season.

Hignett won't be at the Causeway Stadium tomorrow after being ruled out for up to three weeks with a groin strain.

However, he hopes Darlington's spell out of the top seven is only a brief one and admits the squad is determined to set the record straight.

"We were lethargic against Notts County, there was no energy and it was embarrassing at times," admitted Hignett. "Somehow, we found ourselves one-nil up, but after half-time there was just nothing about us.

"It felt like a practice game and I found it hard to lift myself for it. We were all very disappointed because we felt we'd let a lot of people down.

"Notts County looked as if they'd came to get beat, which made it even worse. We just didn't assert ourselves, which was the most important thing. We weren't at the office and it's up to us to put things right before the game at Wycombe on Saturday."

Hignett, who joined the club on a free transfer in September, is one of several former Premiership players manager David Hodgson has persuaded to move to the Williamson Motors Stadium this season.

However, Hignett has warned their home form must improve if they are to sustain a serious promotion challenge.

Quakers have lost five games on their own soil in the league this season and Hignett said: "With the squad we have we should be winning more games - especially at home. We have set our sights on the play-offs and we need to look less nervous at home."

After tomorrow, Quakers host third-placed Swansea on Tuesday, while leaders Yeovil visit the WMS next month.

"They're probably the easier games for us because we always seem to do well against the better sides," said Hignett. "It's teams at the bottom like Notts County who seem to cause us problems and we need to put that right."

* Jack Ross feels he has missed out twice in the last week.

After being red-carded in last Saturday's FA Cup replay with Brentford, the Hartlepool defender was expecting to sit out Tuesday's League One game with Luton through suspension.

But he was made available at the last minute after Pool appealed against his red card - only to find Neale Cooper had already made plans without the Scot.

Pool were knocked out of the FA Cup after playing for 80 minutes with ten men and Cooper feels the rigours of that game played their part in Tuesday's defeat.

Ross admitted: "It would have been a lot better for me if they had looked at it on Monday - Tuesday was no good at all.

"Obviously the manager had to prepare as if the appeal was going to be unsuccessful and, let's face it, these things usually are. It was a surprise because more often than not they just stick with the original decision. But it was disappointing because then it was case of looking back at the weekend and wondering what could have been."

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