Darlington's leading scorer Danny Mellanby is still at least a week away from full fitness as he battles to recover from a knee injury.

The 22-year-old striker, with five goals to his name, damaged medial ligaments against Hull City last month and hoped to play in a practice game at the training ground yesterday, but he had to pull out as a precaution.

Assistant manager Mick Tait said: "He's got a chance of playing in the reserves against Walsall next week.

"We were going to try to play him this morning but it came it a little too early for him. It does no good pushing him when he's not quite right.

"And we've got Dan Chillingworth here now and Barry Conlon is back on Saturday."

"Brian Healy is not yet match fit while Mark Ford has just recovered from a knee injury which has sidelined him for almost two months and both played yesterday.

"Fordy's not been 100 per cent fit for a few months and yesterday was good for him because he'll need games to get his fitness back.

"The game was good for everyone to keep them ticking over."

Ian Clark was the star of the show on Tuesday evening as Darlington beat Rochdale, scoring the only goal from the penalty spot on his debut.

The former Hartlepool midfielder enjoyed an impressive 90 minutes, playing up-front in the first half before playing left-midfield during the second, and his confidently-struck spot-kick was typical of his performance.

"The day before in training, him and Paul Heckingbottom had been practising and both were keen to be the penalty taker, but Clarky was definitely up for it," explained Tait, who also fielded Clark as a striker during his time as Hartlepool manager.

"We switched him with Richard Hodgson a couple of times just to give Rochdale something to think about and it worked.

"He's flexible because he can play left-wing, wing-back, up front or in midfield so he's a good payer to have in the squad.

"He worked very hard and he deserved his goal."

* Darlington are holding a race night on December 10 in aid of the youth development section. The evening, beginning at 7.30pm including a pie and pea supper, costs £5.

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