Darlington badly need a win to lift the end-of-season gloom at home to play-off-chasing Blackpool today.

After virtually clinching safety with the win over Cardiff on Easter Saturday, Quakers have lost five in a row - two of them against sides in the bottom three - to plunge their fans into despair.

If they lose today, then they could finish third from bottom, which in the eyes of the fans would compound a miserable and depressing season after starting the campaign as promotion favourites. And unless the club brings in some new blood, especially in the forward line, then season ticket sales will be slow during the summer.

"It's been such a disappointing end to the season, but we must give everybody something to shout about by winning," said assistant manager Mick Tait.

"It's a shame we've lost five in a row after the way we had played to get away from the bottom of the table.

"The run has depressed everybody after we had such a good run going.

"We had 49 points with six games to go, and we were looking towards a mid-table position, but now we must make sure we don't slip any further down the table. We won't be doing Blackpool any favours. We're still trying to win games, but maybe we have left ourselves open by trying to play a lot more football.

"We've had enough chances to win the last three games, but we've been beaten after being on top. It's not as if we've lost after being on the defensive all the time, we've lost games because we haven't taken our chances.

"We've dominated these last three games more than the games we were winning in our good run. Maybe the lads have lost a little bit of the edge they had when they were winning games."

Lady Luck hasn't been on Quakers' side much in the last three weeks, and Tait said: "Some of the goals we've conceded have been so unlucky. There have been own goals against Hull and Mansfield, and deflections against Mansfield and Halifax.

"I'm pleased we're safe, and that we're not in situation where we're desperate for a point."

Despite the poor end to the season, Tait and manager Gary Bennett will be sitting down with chairman George Reynolds to discuss new deals, although some fans want to see Bennett replaced.

The retained list will also be discussed next week. Most of the first team squad have at least one more year to go on their contracts.