Darlington face a mounting fixture backlog and increasing pressure on playing resources following the postponement of their last two matches.

The loss of the Boxing Day game at Carlisle means the suspensions of Barry Conlon and Mark Ford drag on - depriving manager Tommy Taylor of even more players.

Tomorrow's trip to Bristol Rovers sees both Phil Brumwell and Simon Betts banned, having picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season at Plymouth two weeks ago, meaning Quakers will be without four players through suspension.

Had either last Saturday's game with Cheltenham or the clash at Carlisle gone ahead, Ford would now be free from suspension as he has just one match to serve from his three-game ban - dating back to the infamous 7-1 defeat at Scunthorpe last month.

Conlon also saw red at Glanford Park, but he's only served half of his four-match ban, meaning he'll miss tomorrow's game and the New Year's Day fixture at home to Lincoln City.

But he'll be back for the FA Cup clash with Peterborough on January 5 - more than a month since he last saw action.

The bans mean Taylor's selection for the right-back spot tomorrow will be interesting, especially as the player expected to fill that void, Steve Harper, had been earmarked to play in the left-back position.

This is because recognised left-back Paul Heckingbottom is the preferred choice to partner David Brightwell at the heart of defence - following Gary Caldwell's return to Newcastle last week.

The Brunton Park pitch was declared unfit after a morning inspection and denied Quakers the opportunity to win a Boxing Day fixture away from Feethams for the first time since 1978, when they won 3-2 at Doncaster.

No date has yet been arranged for either Cheltenham or Carlisle, but as Darlington have already been forced to switch the visit of Hartlepool to midweek (February 19) because of their involvement in the third round of the FA Cup, Quakers are facing a hectic fixture list.