Darlington will again be without key players when they look for their first win of the season today at home to Leamington.

Midfielders Tom Platt and Joe Leesley, and striker Cedric Main missed the midweek defeat to Buxton, leaving The Quakers with one point from three games.

All three remain again unavailable, and Andrew Nelson has picked up a knock so may not feature today, so Darlington have signed forward Oli Thompson on loan from Gateshead.

He trained with Quakers on Thursday evening and will be involved today, while defender Ben Hedley returns to the squad having been unavailable for Tuesday’s trip to Buxton, when Steve Watson were fortunate not to lose by a higher scoreline than 2-0.

“We definitely dipped in our performance on Tuesday,” admitted assistant manager Terry Mitchell.

“The other two performances against Kidderminster and Oxford were encouraging, it’s the first we’ve had a dip.

“I don’t want to make excuses, but it’s been tough for the players in the way they had to deal with the games at Oxford and Buxton. Oxford away on the Saturday, then three days later away to Buxton - and we’re a part time team.

“We were missing four key players which maybe had a bearing on the game, but having said that, two players were missing in the previous games.

“To have four key players missing out of anybody’s team, then they’re going to be a miss. With the players missing and the travel, then it was always a tough night, but that gave opportunities to other players.

“I’m sure we’ll get a better performance on Saturday.

“When we played at Oxford, who are a really good team that was in the league above last season, we used a plan that worked. It was end-to-end, a really cracking game and either side could have won it.

“Against Kidderminster on the first day of the season, it was a really positive performance against a top team. We were disappointed ourselves in Tuesday and we were massively disappointed for our fans, and we’re going to put it right on Saturday.

“We’re only three games into the season which is key, there’s nothing to be concerned about. We’re determined to put right what we didn’t do right on Tuesday, there was plenty to be positive about in the first two matches.”

Young defender Harvey Rudd and striker Oscar Taylor, have both signed on dual registration from Consett, while Levi Andoh is likely to be included again today. He made his made his debut on Tuesday after signing on a month’s loan from York.

Leamington were promoted from the Southern League Central last season after winning the play off final against Telford. Managed by Paul Holleran, who is one of the country’s longest serving managers with 15 years’ service behind him, they drew against Alfreton in midweek, and last Saturday they beat Spennymoor Town 3-1.