Darlington skipper Martin Gray will be telling his team-mates to be patient as Quakers try to bounce back against Carlisle today.

Gray, who was made captain at the start of the season, is expecting Carlisle to provide difficult opposition, despite their bottom-half placing, but he is confident Quakers can return to winning ways.

"It is going to be like a derby game," said Gray.

"There have been some really competitive games between the two teams in the past.

"Carlisle will probably come and make it hard for us, so we will have to be patient all the way through the game."

"Teams came to our place last season and made it hard work for us at times, and tried to frustrate us by defending in depth.

"So we must be patient, pass the ball around and wait for the opening to present itself.

"It's important to win every game but a win today will put us in the right frame of mind for the game against Hartlepool next Saturday."

One of Quakers' failings has been their tendency to start games slowly. They have conceded first-half goals against Shrewsbury, Macclesfield and Bradford City in recent games.

"We must be tight from the first whistle and not sloppy like we have been in our last two matches.

"We can't afford to keep making life difficult for ourselves by giving goals away.

"There isn't much wrong with the way we've been playing this season. Everybody is happy with our league position, although with just a little more luck we could have been in the top four.

"We've had deflected goals against us and harsh penalties, like the ones at Rochdale and Shrewsbury.

"We all believe that we've done all right up to now, apart from the game at Bradford on Monday."

Manager Gary Bennett, who will be up against his former Sunderland teammate Ian Atkins, is also expecting a tough game.

"Carlisle will come and make it hard for us," he said. "We must be at our best for the full 90 minutes, instead of just 45."

Bennett will be making several changes to the team which played at Bradford on Monday night. Midfielder Glenn Naylor is definitely out, so Gary Himsworth will probably play at full back, alongside returning central defenders Neil Aspin and Craig Liddle. Lee Nogan will return to the forward line, but Dutchman Ton Kaak might be ruled out because of injury.

Carlisle come to Feethams having lost their last four matches but they have shown some useful away form, having won at Kidderminster and Shrewsbury.

l Tickets for the derby game at Hartlepool next Saturday are on general sale today.

l Darlington defender Craig Liddle has hinted that he could stay at Feethams when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

The club has opened talks with the 29-year-old, who has asked for a three-year deal