DARLINGTON are looking to bring players in to fill the holes in their defence after two red cards in as many games left them light on numbers.

Gary Brown’s dismissal in the Doodson Sport Cup last Wednesday against Whitby was followed by three days later by Liam Hatch’s red card away to St Neots Town in the FA Trophy.

While Hatch deserved to see red, for swinging an arm at Ryan Frater, Quakers strongly believe that referee Barry Gordon made a mistake in sending off Brown – the third time the whistle-blower has done so - but are unable to appeal as the match was not caught on camera.

Nonetheless, the risk of carrying a thin squad is now threatening to expose Quakers, with Chris Hunter having also picked up a one-match ban after reaching five cautions at the weekend.

Brown, Hatch and Hunter will be available this weekend when Clitheroe visit Heritage Park, but the following Saturday, when Darlington host Lancaster City, Martin Gray will be without the trio. Hatch is often the manager’s preference when one of his first-choice defenders is unavailable.

Both Brown and Hatch will also miss the following two games, away to New Mills and at home to Bamber Bridge, so Gray is eager to bring in reinforcements.

“I’m disappointed with the discipline,” he said. “Hunter, Hatch and Brown are all suspended, so as a club we need to look at that see what we’re going to do. We’re going to have to bring some players in.

“We were already looking at the situation, we’ve been looking at players to bring in since Gary Brown was sent off – which was never a red card – so we need to see which players we can bring in, at least on a short-term basis.”

Hatch’s fourth-minute dismissal on Saturday created a highly-charged atmosphere at Rowley Park, which eventually subsided after referee Ben Cooke got a grip on the game and booking Quakers midfielder Tom Portas.

Gray said: “The referee had a bad spell after the second off and was a bit loose with his cards. We had to regain our discipline as a team.”

Portas, St Neots believed, should have been sent off for the rash challenge which came not long after Hatch’s early exit.

Portas said: “I don’t know what happened with the sending off, I didn’t see it, but he apologised to us afterwards.

“It took us ten or minutes to settle down. It was just a rush of blood to the head for my yellow, a bit daft. So for the last 75 minutes I had to take it easy.

“There were a lot of positives for the team.

“Over 90 minutes, with ten men, we played with a lot of character and spirit, and we can take that forward into Saturday and the rest of the season.”