WITH five games remaining Dave Penney last night called on his Darlington side to end the season with their heads held high - even if they don't secure a top-seven finish.

Despite failing to win their last three games, Darlington still have an outside chance of finishing in the top seven ahead of this afternoon's visit of rivals Lincoln City.

But, with four of their five games coming against teams above them - including the Red Imps - the odds remain stacked against Quakers bettering last season's eighth-placed finish.

However, Penney is refusing to discount Darlington's prospects and, starting with this afternoon's clash, the Quakers boss is looking for a strong finish, whatever the outcome of their season.

"If we are going to have any chance then we have to try and win all of our remaining games," said Penney.

"We've got some tough games coming up - Lincoln, Wycombe, Stockport and Milton Keynes are all up there.

"Four of the five teams we have to play are above us, so we just want to go out now and give a better account of ourselves."

It was at Lincoln in November that Quakers produced their best performance of the season with a 3-1 win at Sincil Bank.

And Penney hopes his side side can replicate that display back at the 96.6TFM Arena today.

"That was probably as good as we've done," said Penney.

"Over 90 minutes that's as good as we've played since I've been here.

"That's something we've rarely managed to achieve since then, but if we can perform throughout the game then that's what we're capable of.

"I'm sure Lincoln will still remember that game and I'm sure they'll want to put things right on Monday."

With today's game in mind Penney left Neil Wainwright out of the starting XI at Chester.

And the Quakers boss feels the winger will feel the benefit when he returns to the side this afternoon.

"We've got a very big game coming up on Monday so we left Wainy out to save him for that," explained Penney.

"We played 4-3-3 at Chester but Wainy will come in when we go back to 4-4-2 on Monday."

Wycome and Shrewsbury drew 1-1 at the weekend, so the gap between Quakers and the top seven is three points, although they dropped to tenth after Bristol Rovers won at Mansfield.

"We really needed to get three points on Friday to keep the pressure on," said Penney.

"It was a game we were more than capable of winning but we were let down by poor defending.

"If we let that happen against Lincoln then we won't stand a chance."

Penney has no fresh injury worries to contend with. Ricky Ravenhill was substituted as a precaution on Good Friday after he was booked in the first half.

Striker Tommy Wright serves the second game of a four-match ban.