Darlington begin a crucial period of three games inside eight days with four key players still unavailable.

Striker Lee Thorpe stepped up training this week but remains sidelined with a groin strain while Chris Lumdson requires surgery on a back injury.

The midfielder first sustained the injury during his days at Carlisle United and, having already missed seven games, is expected to be missing for a lengthy period.

Full-backs Mark Bower (ankle) and Paul Arnison (hamstring) are still out though Quakers hope at least one will return for either the home game with Rochdale on Tuesday or the fixture with Macclesfield next weekend.

The lack of alternatives and the improved showing against Bournemouth last weekend means manager Colin Todd is likely to keep changes to a minimum and that means another run-out for Steve Foster.

The captain says his teammates, despite being bottom of the table, remain in good spirits and retain belief in their own ability.

He said: “There’s a responsibility to lift the spirits because this is obviously not a nice position to be in and the majority of the squad have not been in this kind of position before.

“We’re trying to keep it as upbeat as we can. Obviously there’s a little bit of disappointment because of where we are in the league.

“You’ve just to stay upbeat and keep enjoying coming in to training because it’s a great job to have. Yes, we’re at the bottom but it’s something we’ve got to get out of and that’s what we’re striving to do. The lads are keeping their heads up and still believe they can win every game they go into to.

“We’ve had some good training sessions this week, we’ve worked on a few things and hopefully that will put us in good stead for Saturday.”

Whereas Darlington are missing four first-teamers, the Mariners will be boosted by the return from suspension of former Quakers strikers Barry Conlon and Adam Proudlock.

Conlon, with three goals this season, is the most likely to start and Foster added: “It will be interesting to see if Prouds and Baz come back into the team as Grimsby have won their last two.

“Adam wasn’t fully fit for the first couple of months when he was with us last season.

By the time he did get fit he’d had a couple of chances and not taken them.

“So when the opportunity came for him to move on the decision was made for him.

He wanted first-team football so it was good for him.”

Proudlock is yet to score this season, but he bagged seven last season after initially joining on loan from Quakers in November.