Darlington boss Mick Tait last night welcomed the news that defensive duo Craig Liddle and Stuart Whitehead will be fit for tomorrow's crucial Third Division clash at Lincoln.

The pair suffered knocks in Tuesday night's 1-0 defeat at home to Rochdale, but Tait expects to name both in his squad.

"Lidds took a knock on the knee and Stuart felt a slight twinge on the calf," said Tait. "The last thing we want is injuries to contend with."

Nor does Tait wish to contemplate another defeat.

Quakers are just six points above the relegation zone and Tait admits his players have not been making it easy for themselves.

"We made it tougher than it should have been on Tuesday," he said. "We were the better side but we didn't hurt them enough.

"The players know that and instead of playing all this fancy passing football we have to be more ruthless.

"Everyone was very critical of the team on Tuesday but we didn't really play that badly.

"If we'd scored a couple of goals everybody would have had a completely different view of the performance."

Quakers could yet include defender Matt Clarke in their squad.

The former Halifax man has not figured since slicing open his thumb in an accident at home.

"We've made further enquiries as we did last week to look into the possibilities of getting a lighter cast on so that he could play," said Tait.

Neil Wainwright remains a doubt with a nerve problem in his leg, while Neil Maddison and Danny Mellanby are unlikely to figure.

Mellanby remains short of match practice and Maddison is still recovering from a thigh injury.

Midfielder Mark Ford has joined Conference side Leigh RMI on a month's loan.

The 27-year-old has played just three minutes of football under Tait.

"Mark hasn't played many games so the match practice will do him good," said Tait.

"With all the midfield players we have available again we just thought we'd let him go out and get some games under his belt."

Read more about the Quakers here.