DARLINGTON manager Alun Armstrong has told his players to win tomorrow’s away game at Banbury for injured centre-half Paddy Almond.

The former Sunderland youngster was rushed to a London hospital with a bleed on the brain after last Saturday’s Trophy defeat at Southend, and since then there has been an outpouring of sympathy and support, with around £13,000 raised to help him financially while he recovers. He is a non-contract player at Darlington, which means that he only gets paid when he plays.

“He’s getting better and better,” said Armstrong. “Everyone was a little bit shocked on the bus coming back from Southend, there were a few downs on the way back home. Everyone was emotional.

“We want to win the game for him. He would probably have started again today because he’d done smashing up to that point, he was going to get better and better.

“He’s in a good place at the moment, I’ve been speaking to him constantly, and the main thing is, that he’s improving. Winning at Banbury will be massive for us, and it will also give Paddy a lift.”

Because of their Trophy involvement at Southend last Saturday, Quakers have now been overtaken by Fylde and King’s Lynn, which means they have dropped to third in the table, a point behind the top two. They’re also level on points with Brackley, and two ahead of Scarborough.

“We know that it’s going to be a difficult game because Banbury is a difficult place to go to," continued Armstrong. "When we played them at our place earlier in the season, they won 2-1. We were brilliant for the first 30 minutes, but we lost David Wheater in the warm-up, then Jake Lawlor at half-time, and we had to play Jassem Sukar and Alex Purver at centre-halves. We also lost Adriano Moke with injury.

“We were poor after the first half-hour and they were decent, no bones about it. Some of the play was good from them, they were full of energy and difficult to play against.

“But we’re a different team altogether now – as long as everyone is fit and well, we’re a game for everyone.

“We’re looking for a reaction from the Chorley non-performance. They certainly did that at Southend. Some of the football wasn’t what we really do, but credit to Southend, you could tell that they are a full-time outfit, they were pressing us and putting us under pressure. You could see that some of our players were treading water near the end, but we didn’t have anyone who could change it because of the injuries.”

Quakers have won their last five away league games – they won their last away game by 5-2 at Scarborough – and Armstrong said; “We’re in a good little position at the moment. We know it will be different in the second half of the season because the full-time teams tend to come to the front – it’s started already.

“So we’ve got to concentrate on ourselves, go to Banbury, get a result and kick on after that"

Lawlor and striker Junior Mondal both return to the squad after missing the Southend game, but winger Jarrett Rivers is still missing through illness and Wheater isn’t fully fit.

After tomorrow’s game, Quakers have three successive home games coming up – against Spennymoor next Saturday, Southport on Tuesday, January 31 and AFC Telford on Saturday, February 4.

Banbury, meanwhile, won promotion from Southern League Central last season, and are currently in ninth place.

Quakers, due to depart on Friday afternoon at 3pm,  are keeping an eye on the pitch conditions, as Banbury’s Trophy tie against Coalville has been postponed twice in the last week, but the home club are hoping that conditions will improve enough to stage the game.