Darlington today go into their toughest challenge of the season so far, but boss Tommy Taylor insists it's not time for the alarm bells to start ringing yet.

A reverse at Rochdale would leave Taylor with just four points from a possible 12 and Quakers would already be playing catch-up on the pacesetters.

Next up is a tough home game with Carlisle on Tuesday and as Taylor approaches today's game with confidence he said: "There's no need to panic just yet! We've started nice and brightly, creating quite a few chances.

"If we weren't doing that I'd be upset but we're making chances, we've just got to put the ball in the back of the net.

"We're going to go into the game really positive because I think we're doing reasonably well at the moment."

Quakers misfired spectacularly against Oxford last week and although proved able to create scoring opportunities against a stubborn visiting side, none were clear-cut which suggested Quakers' final ball was not always the best. The quantity of chances was not in question, but the quality certainly was.

Substitute Phil Hadland did his best to impress when thrown on as a substitute in the second half as he fired in plenty of crosses towards the head of Barry Conlon. But Neil Wainwright did not fulfil his quota with most deliveries not being of the best standard.

Hadland may find himself in the starting line-up today against one of his former clubs who attracted quality this summer in the signings of midfielder pair Chris Beech and Lee Hodges.

Beech made a name for himself as a goalscoring midfielder at Hartlepool, taking over the mantle left by new Darlington signing Jon Cullen, who swopped Victoria Park for Sheffield United, and should pose a threat today although Hodges may only be restricted to a substitute's role.

Taylor, however, is not paying too much attention to the pair, instead preferring to concentrate on his own team's merits although he's full aware of the damage Hodges is capable of.

"Hodges didn't play last week but we don't know if he'll be playing on Saturday until we get the teamsheet," said Taylor. "He always causes problems whoever he plays against so I hope he isn't playing.

"We're going to play our own game and not worry about them until they get the ball. Until then, we'll do our own thing."

Today's match is the last of Mark Ford's four-game suspension and he is likely to come into the fray against Carlisle.

However, despite a high number of midfielders, Ford would appear to be one of only a handful pushing for recalls as the reserves' poor showing in midweek at York did little to threaten first-team places, leaving Taylor very annoyed.

He said: "I look at the midfield and think, can they play in the Third Division? And the simple answer is, some of them can't.

"I wasn't too pleased with the reserves on Wednesday. They are meant to be in the reserves to try and get a place in the first team but you wouldn't of thought so.

"Some of them might have looked up for it, but they weren't good enough."

* Darlington defender Ryan Valentine has been named in the Wales Under-21 squad to face Finland in Valkaekoski on September 6.