Seven months on since one of the greatest days in their history at Wembley, Darlington begin the defence of the FA Trophy today at the comparatively less grand Grimsby Town.

It has been 217 days since Chris Senior became a folk hero with his last-gasp goal against Mansfield Town, but much has since changed.

In fact, the bulk of the changes have occurred in the time since Quakers won in the league during August at Blundell Park.

Of the 11 that started that 2-1 win, four - John Campbell, Ben Purkiss, Greg Taylor and James Walshaw - are no longer in the squad thanks to the club's cost-cutting measures instigated by chairman Raj Singh.

Several others have moved on recently and, coupled with a handful of injuries and Paul Arnison's suspension, Quakers are struggling for numbers so will again be bolstered by youth team players as they bid to retread the road to Wembley.

That they do not have a recognised right-back, due to Arnison's absence, is typical of the problems faced by caretaker manager Craig Liddle.

"I'm pretty sure Aaron Brown will be fit enough to play. But we don't have a right-back at the club who's ready to go in there," said Liddle, who saw the under-18s defeated by Newcastle on Thursday in the FA Youth Cup.

"I've got a youth team player [Anthony Snook] who probably physically isn't ready, so it might be a case of players playing out of position again.

"It's a big ask [for a youth team player]. He had a big game on Thursday, then to give him a rest day and throw him in for his debut on Saturday would be too much.

"If you take Ian Miller out of the centre you take away what he offers in there, in terms of his pace and leadership, which becomes another problem, so I'd leave Ian in the centre.

"I might have to play a left-back there or a midfielder in there.

"We've got injury problems and suspensions, but we're not going to harp on about that. We'll go there with what we have available."

If Kris Taylor plays it would be in spite of the injury which restricted his training this week.

He has been filling in at left-back, but Brown's return means Taylor is a contender to fill in for Arnison.

Liddle added: "He's got a hip problem and played through that the other night. He's been unable to train, we've just been wheeling him out to play games.

"He's only managed to train once this week but hopefully he'll be available to play a part on Saturday."

Despite the off-field problems Darlington have faced of late, they have suffered only one defeat in Liddle's six league games and kept four clean sheets, which is as many as they achieved during the first 20 league and cup matches of the season.

Liddle is reluctant to take credit, saying: "I'd like to think I've helped, but a lot of it is down to the players themselves and the job that they've been doing.

"Because of my time-scale and the jobs that I'm doing it's been very difficult to do a great deal on team shape and how I'd like players to play the game.

"But we've done little bits and have worked on certain things, like getting players to double-up and help out in defence.

"We haven't done as much as I would like, but we have worked on it.

"The clean sheets are a bonus. It would be nice to have a settled back four. But hopefully whatever we put out in those positions on Saturday can do a job for us and keep us in the competition."

With Brown back and Marc Bridge-Wilkinson available after suspension, the number of starters who played at Wembley is up to five, Sam Russell, Ian Miller and Liam Hatch being the others.

They are hoping to successfully defend the Trophy won on May 7, something that is not uncommon. Within the past two decades Woking, Kingstonian and Grays have all retained the silverware.

But first up is a tricky tie at Grimsby, who have conceded only once in their last five matches, a run that includes a 7-0 win over Stockport.

Liddle added: "The final was a fantastic occasion for everyone involved with the club. We won't take the game lightly, we'll go down there with a game-plan to win, because we know there's a fantastic prize to be had.

"It's going to take a real, strong run to get into the play-offs. That would be the aim for everyone and we won't give up on that until it's mathematically impossible.

"But in the context of things this could be another success for the club if we can get into the next round.

"So we'll give it our best shot but it's a really difficult tie. We couldn't have asked for a harder one, but we'll go there looking to progress."

August's 2-1 victory at Blundell Park, thanks to goals from Greg Taylor and Arnison, represented a seventh Darlington win at Grimsby during a nine-game undefeated run stretching back 23 years.

The Mariners were perhaps unfortunate to lose that day, with a superb Russell save late on proving crucial. After afterwards Grimsby joint-manager Rob Scott became involved in an altercation with a home supporter.

The incident was filmed and posted online and has been watched 90,000 times.

He said this week: "It was a frustrating game for everybody and it is well documented what happened afterwards.

"We were playing really well and not getting the results and I think that has perhaps changed recently."