Darlington's miserable season continued off the field yesterday as Joey Hutchinson was charged by the FA for comments made to a referee.

The defender appeared at the hearing in York with manager David Hodgson to answer allegations of foul and abusive language made towards referee Trevor Kettle at the end of Quakers' controversial 2-0 defeat at Mansfield in October.

The Berkshire official booked eight Quakers players and sent off defender David McGurk.

Hutchinson was yesterday handed a one-match ban, while the club received an £800 fine for the number of bookings.

Despite the outcome, Hodgson praised the FA for their handling of the situation. Indeed, the Quakers boss was thankful that Hutchinson's ban was not longer and the fine heavier.

Such cases carry standard three-match bans, while hard-up Quakers could have faced a fine up to £10,000 for having eight players cautioned.

However, with the backing of a letter from Mansfield and former FA compliance officer Graham Bean fighting their cause, Quakers were given a slap on the wrist.

"The FA have been excellent with us," said Hodgson. "Obviously we're disappointed to lose a player like Joey for a game but it could have been a lot worse.

"In the end we're delighted with the outcome. The fine is the last thing we need at the moment, but like Joey's ban that could have been worse too."

Hutchinson will be suspended for the trip to Kidderminster on January 17.

Quakers meet Gretna in a behind-closed-doors game at the Reynolds Arena this afternoon.

Top scorer Barry Conlon and Ryan Valentine will play after missing the last two games through suspension. They will miss the Boxing Day visit of Huddersfield, but will be available for Sunday's trip to bottom-of-the-table Carlisle, who claimed only their second League win of the season on Saturday, beating Torquay 2-0.

"We need to go into every game with the same attitude and wanting to win," said Hodgson.

"I want to win every game and hopefully so do the players.

"Not for one minute can we go into a game thinking if we lose this one it will be OK. If we do that then what's the point?

"The players were distraught after the Macclesfield game and that's the way they should react if they've lost," said Hodgson.

"Nobody likes losing - I definitely don't like it.

"Hopefully we can give every Darlington fan a better Christmas by beating Huddersfield."

The Associated Supporters Kitty (TASK) collection now stands at £3,101.50 after £248.99 was collected at Saturday's game. TASK is raising funds to go towards additional costs incurred by Hodgson.

Read more about the Quakers here.