Story by Kevin Luff - 28th September 2006

Just three days after their last outing Darlington are in action once again as they welcome Grimsby Town to the 96.6 TFM Darlington Arena. Quakers boss David Hodgson is looking for his players to be honest with him regarding their fitness and condition and will almost certainly be making changes to the team which started at Mansfield Town earlier in the week.

Darlington could be boosted by the return of several important players. Midfielder Clark Keltie featured in the reserves on Wednesday night and appears to have come through unscathed. Keltie has missed the last ten games with an ankle problem which required surgery but has made a speedy recovery. His inclusion in the team against Grimsby would perhaps be felt the most as Darlington have at times missed his presence in midfield, particularly at Mansfield.

Defender Patrick Collins may also be involved in the game on Friday night. Along with Joey Hutchinson, Collins has trained and may have a chance at featuring. The absence of the two players has been felt with Hodgson having to reshuffle his backline. If one of the pair were to return it would certainly ease the pressure and at the least restore some balance to the picture overall with Quakers being limited in what they can name on the bench because of the shortage of defensive bodies.

Whilst players could be on the verge of the return Darlington will be without forward Julian Joachim. The former Boston United player suffered a hamstring problem during the game against Mansfield and had to be substituted. Joachim will be out for at least three weeks with the injury although it could be closer to a month. Martin Smith however is back from illness and should figure in the match against the Mariners. The forward has not been seen since striking a late equaliser against Bristol Rovers in the middle of the month.

Whilst Darlington are looking to get back on track so to are Grimsby. The Mariners were trounced 4-1 at home to Hartlepool United in midweek leaving manager Graham Rodger lost for words. Grimsby took a first half lead but Pools hit back to beat them. Rodger is under pressure to get last season's play-off finalists back on track.

"Heading towards half-time at 1-0 I thought the game was very evenly balanced. They are a decent team - if not the best we have seen this season. We were in the game at one up in a decent game of football. Either team could have said at half-time they could go on and win it. Then the penalty just before half-time is an absolute killer - a hammer blow," said Rodger about the Hartlepool United defeat.

Grimsby currently find themselves fourth bottom of the division although little separates the teams in the bottom end of the table from those in mid-table at this stage of the campaign. Grimsby are reportedly set to stick with the same line-up as their last match. On-loan striker Tony Thorpe is still lacking match fitness but will keep his place because Isaiah Rankin, Gary Cohen and Michael Reddy remain injured.