With the flame of optimism almost extinguished by back-to-back defeats in which Darlington have failed to score, manager David Hodgson has called for the fans to keep off his players' backs, writes Craig Stoddart.

Striker Craig Russell has borne the brunt of the frustration which has grown with Quakers scoring just twice in four games, and it reached an unacceptable level on Saturday.

After being heckled at Kidderminster a week ago, seconds after the final whistle against Bristol Rovers an irate supporter had an altercation with the former Sunderland striker and the pair had to be pulled apart by assistant manager Mark Proctor.

Clark Keltie recently admitted suffering a dip in confidence last season after his form took a downward turn which was greeted with jeers from sections of the crowd, and Hodgson has called on the fans not to let it happen again.

Russell has scored just twice in his 16 appearances, but he did create Matt Clarke'e goal at Yeovil two weeks ago, and Hodgson said: "Of course I'm going to defend Craig.

"The fans can scream at me if they want, they can give me dog's abuse but I don't want the players to get any abuse.

"Shouting at the players doesn't do anyone any good. No player is going to improve if someone in the stands is giving him stick.

"My opinion will not be swayed by anyone else's - whether they're saying they like a player or don't like one so they can shout at me all they like because it won't matter.

"Russ is working very hard, but is taking a lot of abuse from the public. He closed people down, held the ball up, laid it off well and even had claims for a penalty.

"If I asked every player in the squad to pick a Darlington team every one of them would put Russ in the side.

"Knowing where the ball is going to drop is a striker's natural instinct.

"Being a striker is about movement, knowing when to make the right run but until we get a striker into the club, we're having to work with what we've got.''

He admitted: "We know we need a striker, that's nothing new. As soon as the game finished I checked to see if my calls had been returned.

"I don't want a player on a short-term basis because I don't want someone coming here for a month only to then go back to his club, leaving us back at square one.

"I don't want a one-month loan, we want someone who is going to be here at least until the end of the season."

Hodgson would love to bring in Danny Graham, but Middlesbrough have so far rebuffed Darlington's approaches.

Quakers, however, may be heartened by Steve McClaren's comments at the weekend.

Regarding Juninho's move to Celtic, Boro's manager said: "We've signed two strikers in the summer. We now have too many strikers and some need to move on."

Read more about the Quakers here.