Darlington will discover this morning whether midfielder Clark Keltie will be suspended for their next four matches.

Quakers lodged an appeal to the FA over the red card referee Carl Boyeson brandished in the second half of the win over Chester City on Saturday after the 22-year-old's right arm connected with Ryan Lowe.

Darlington's trump card in their appeal is that Lowe has contacted the FA to defend Keltie who argues that the clash was accidental.

He has been an ever-present in the centre of midfield for the last 17 matches since recovering from a long-term injury but any ban would begin immediately, starting with Saturday's clash with Carlisle United and rule him out until the trip to Torquay United next month.

Violent conduct ordinarily carries a three-game suspension but it would be increased to four as it was Keltie's second red of the season following his dismissal against Wycombe Wanderers in November.

Should Darlington lose the appeal, Keltie's central midfield place could go to Adrian Webster who made his first start for four months on Saturday on the left of a midfield diamond formation.

The New Zealand international has given his seal of approval to the tactic which was used for the second time this season against Chester, the previous occasion was the recent defeat to Shrewsbury.

Although fundamentally a 4-4-2, the midfield saw Anthony Peacock behind the front two with Dickman on the right, Keltie in front of the back four and Webster is keen to see it used more often.

He said: "We have been playing that way in the reserves so its not new to me, even though the first team have not played that way so much.

"I think, with the personnel we have got it is a formation that would work, it is just a case of playing it week in, week out to get it right.

"We have got creative players, people like Anthony Peacock and Simon Johnson, so with players like that it could be a good formation for us.

"I can play wide right or wide left midfield, I would not say that I am an out and out wide player, but I can play there.

"I prefer to play in the centre because in there you can do a bit of everything you can start influencing things.

"On Saturday I thought I did OK but I could do better, it was nice to get back in the team.