Darlington's entire youth team are on standby to make their professional debuts for the virus-stricken club in Saturday's match with Shrewsbury Town after a club coach warned the situation could get worse before it gets better.

A combination of injury and illness meant a raft of players were unavailable for the Boxing Day game with Mansfield Town, which meant two members of the youth team, Shaun Reay and Josh Wright, were called upon to make their debuts.

More of the club's juniors could be about to follow their teenage team-mates into the first-team reckoning and although Mick Tait, Quakers' Youth Development Officer, holds no fears over that possibility, he has warned that the number suffering from flu could increase before the weekend.

Manager Dave Penney has asked club staff and players to stay clear of each other until tomorrow, when a roll call will be held to see who is fit for Saturday's home game.

Because of the lack of numbers, Tuesday's defeat, their sixth in a row, saw four flu-sufferers - Martin Smith, Craig James, Simon Johnson and Brian Close - forced into action and Tait admits the infection could have now spread.

He said: "The youth team are definitely on standby again. We've all been told to stay away until Friday and then we'll see how we stand.

"The four who played on Tuesday might not have been suffering as much as the others but they were still carrying the germs and they've been in the same room as the other players. None of the youth lads were suffering from flu on Tuesday but they've been in the changing room. We'll have to wait until Friday and see who is fit.

"You do have seasons when you have a lot of injury problems but to have so many out with illness as well as injury is very unusual."

Of Quakers' six successive defeats, five have been league games, and they are three games off matching the club record of nine consecutive defeats, set at the start of 1985/86 season.