Cheltenham Town may have parted company with their manager at the weekend but Darlington boss Mick Tait last night warned that could work against his side tonight.

Tait and his flu-hit squad travelled to Gloucestershire yesterday in preparation for the crunch game with managerless Town, who accepted Bobby Gould's resignation in the wake of their third straight defeat by Rochdale.

Tait reckons the Robins - who yesterday appointed Bob Bloomer as caretaker manager - could benefit from the change and believes teams raise their game in such circumstances.

Tait should know, having suffered just one defeat in his opening 12 games in a caretaker capacity last season.

"Their manager has left so it's one of those situations," said Tait. "Sometimes teams get a big lift from that. We've just got to go there and do what we want to do."

Quakers slipped to their fourth straight defeat at Yeovil on Saturday.

However, Tait is refusing to panic, despite just three points separating his side from the relegation zone.

"It's still reasonably early days," said Tait. "We had a bad start, a good September and a bad October and I don't want that to continue until the end of the month."

Tait admitted half of his team are feeling the effects of a bout of flu which has been sweeping through the squad since the end of last week.

"We've got a bit of flu in the camp but hopefully everyone's going to be all right," said Tait. "About half a dozen of them have it and some are worse than others."

Quakers are boosted by the return of David McGurk from suspension, and he could replace Matt Clarke at the back with the former Halifax man expected to resume attacking duties alongside Danny Mellanby.

Midfielder Neil Maddison travelled with the rest of the squad but remains doubtful after picking up a thigh strain at Huish Park.

Clark Keltie, dropped for Quakers' last two games, is on standby to return, along with Frenchman Fabian Bossy.

Winger Neil Wainwright, a surprise starter at Yeovil following a foot injury, looks set to keep his place.

Striker Glen Robson, who will play for the reserves tomorrow night, was left at home yesterday to give him time to recover from a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, goalkeeper Andy Collett will see a specialist today, and is expected to be given a date for his operation on a punctured lung. He could be out until Christmas.

Striker Barry Conlon is "improving very well" according to Tait, although the former Southend man still has a badly swollen foot and is not expected to be back until December.

Read more about the Quakers here.