MARC BRIDGE-WILKINSON says team spirit will ensure that Darlington will carry on regardless, despite the wage wrangles at The Northern Echo Arena.

He is one of four players who have not been paid this week, none of them having agreed a wage reduction with Quakers chairman Raj Singh.

There are believed to be around ten others in the squad who have yet to agree a wage cut with their employers, who have paid around six players only a percentage of their wage.

The scenario leaves a degree of uncertainty over the squad who are preparing for tomorrow’s home game with Forest Green hoping to continue the form they showed on Wednesday.

Although they lost 2-1 at Wrexham, Quakers could be pleased with their display.

Bridge-Wilkinson put Darlington ahead with a penalty - a day after discovering he had not been paid.

“It’s difficult to take when you’re going somewhere like Wrexham, a top-of-the-league team, and you find out a day before the game you’ve not been paid,” he said “All we can do is do our best on the pitch. The stuff that goes on off the pitch is a distraction, you can’t get away from that fact. You’ve got to go home and lads can’t pay the mortgage.

“People have bills to pay and Christmas is coming up.

But we’re professionals, we’re paid to play football – in most cases – and we will be professional about it and carry on.

“It’s not us against them, we want this football club to survive and want to play for the club. What’s happened is disappointing, but we’ll go out there and give our all, no matter what.

“Team spirit has got better.

The numbers have dwindled, so that obviously helps as the unit has got smaller and tighter, and things like this can only help the group become stronger.

“I don’t think there’s a player at this club who has wanted to leave. Things didn’t go great at the start of the season, but they’ve picked up and we’re starting to show what we can do. It’s a shame these things are happening off the pitch and it’s going to be a difficult Christmas, there’s no doubt about that.”

Darlington have declined to comment on the situation, and Bridge-Wilkinson added: “We don’t know the ins and outs, it may be an error. It’s not for me to make accusations or guess what’s going on.

“We don’t know what’s happening, all we know at this minute is that some people have been paid, some have been paid a percentage and some haven’t been paid a penny.”

Singh took a swipe at several unnamed players in his programme notes last weekend, saying: “There are others who I already knew are only here for a pay-day, who haven’t budged or even attempted to negotiate.”

The comments did not go unnoticed within the squad.

Bridge-Wilkinson said: “It’s been mentioned before that some people don’t care for the club and don’t want to play for the club, but I think Wednesday’s performance proved otherwise, because there were people out there playing for free.

“We proved that we’re going to work as hard as we can for as long as we’re here.”

Meanwhile, striker Ryan Bowman expects to be out for four to six weeks with ankle ligament damage sustained on Wednesday.