DARLINGTON hope to push the nightmare of Victoria Park to the back of their minds against York City tonight.

Three days after the Quakers' dreadful showing at local rivals Hartlepool, boss Tommy Taylor is hoping his side can get back on track at Bootham Crescent this evening.

Fifth-placed York, though, will also provide a tough test for the Feethams club, but manager Tommy Taylor is convinced his players can get over their bad day at the office.

"Saturday was a bad sandwich," said Taylor, whose men lost 4-1 to Pool. "I know that, the players know that and the fans know that.

"The only plus point to come out of the game was that we scored and that was it. In truth there wasn't really any plus points, and that's the first time I've said that after a match.

"But Saturday has gone now, I'm not going to panic, and the players have to pick themselves up and look for a result at York.

"But when you look at the games we have had away from home already, we are points in front of ourselves.

"I look at a point for every away game and we have won one in three matches so that's OK.

"It was disappointing to lose in the derby but we have had a get together, talked a few things over and it's just one game we've lost."

Barry Conlon, Mark Ford and Glenn Naylor all live in York and Taylor is hoping his squad can avoid a second derby defeat in such a short space of time.

"This is a derby as well," said the Quakers chief. "York's not very far from Darlington so it has to be.

"We have also got three players who live in York and they will not want to walk down the town centre and get stick from the York fans.

"But it's not just those players who should be focused - all of my players will be as focused as one another.

"Not just because it's a derby, but because it's another match - I've told all of them they should treat every game as a derby."

Midfielders Jon Cullen and Phil Hadland are again included in the Darlington squad after signing one-month extensions to their short-term deals.

And Taylor is convinced his side can bounce back and quickly make strides towards the top half of the table again.

"There are 40 or so games to go in a long season," said Taylor, who has a full squad to choose from for the short trip south.

"We have had a decent start and it's stupid to say we are out of it.

"I think there will be teams up there now who won't be later and there are teams down the bottom who will be near the top by the end."

Read more about the Quakers here.