Darlington caretaker boss Mick Tait believes the poor standard of refereeing is doing his side no favours in their battle to beat the drop.

Striker Barry Conlon became the latest player to face suspension after his sending off against Cambridge on Tuesday night, taking Quakers' red card count for the season to six.

Ryan Valentine's dismissal against Hartlepool almost a fortnight ago means he will miss Saturday's visit of fellow strugglers Exeter City, who coincidentally are bottom of the Division's fair play league - with Quakers just a place above.

And now Tait must work his plans around the imminent two-match ban awaiting leading scorer Conlon, who will miss the home game with Bury on March 29 and the trip to his former club Southend a week later.

The loss of Conlon couldn't have come at a more difficult time for Quakers who have won just once in their last ten and are just six points above the relegation zone with ten games to go.

And Tait feels their cause hasn't been helped by some dubious refereeing decisions.

"The referees just don't know what they're doing and it's costing us," said Tait. "You look at some of the incidents where Baz has been booked this season and they're ridiculous. We're doing all we can to get results and it's just being ruined by referees.

"Baz is an important part of the team and we're going to miss him when he's suspended for two games. This is the last thing we want at this stage of the season."

Meanwhile, Tait is hoping Neil Wainwright's two-goal blast for the reserves on Wednesday night has helped the winger rediscover his scoring touch.

Wainwright was guilty of missing two great chances on Tuesday night only to find the net twice 24 hours later in a 3-2 win at Scunthorpe.

"I said to him afterwards 'why couldn't you put them away the night before?" said Tait.

"There were two similar chances and this time he put them away. Hopefully it's given him a bit more confidence and he'll put them sort of chances away next time."

Defender Stuart Whitehead is again a major doubt for tomorrow's clash with bottom of the table Exeter.

The former Carlisle man is still struggling with an ankle injury picked up at Wrexham last month.

Jim Corbett trained with the rest of the squad yesterday and looks set for a place on the bench. A thigh injury has prevented the striker from making a single appearance since arriving on a month's loan from Blackburn a fortnight ago.

Read more about the Quakers here.