Darlington have been forced to cancel Sunday's charity match at the Reynolds Arena because of poor ticket sales.

The game had been arranged to raise funds for the club, which was put into administration last December.

The club raised over £130,000 when 14,200 turned up for a charity game in January and it was hoped a second game would provide extra revenue to cover the crucial summer months when there will be no gate receipts after their last home game against Swansea on Saturday week.

Paul Gascoigne and Peter Beardsley were among the stars who played in January's game and both agreed to return to play for a David Hodgson XI against a Granada TV XI.

But just 70 tickets have been sold since they went on sale on Monday, leaving David Hodgson with little option but to reluctantly pull the plug after meeting with administrators yesterday.

He said: "I've done quite a bit of work on this and I'm hugely disappointed.

"Looking at the bigger picture, we had to be realistic. Financially we would be responsible for every aspect, from catering to stewarding.

"We sold 5,000 tickets straight away for the last charity match. We've sold 70 so far for this one and I think that gives us a clear indication of the response.

"We are in administration and we cannot afford to run at a loss. In theory we were raising money for two charities with no guarantee of raising money.

"It would have been a huge gamble to go ahead."

Proceeds from the game were agreed to be split between the club and the Percy Hedley Foundation in Newcastle, the chosen charity of Darlington fan and match organiser, Paul Hodgson.

"It such a shame to see all our hard work go to waste," said Paul Hodgson.

"I must thank everybody who have taken the time to help and hopefully we might be able to arrange something in the future.''