FL2: Darlington v Torquay United 6th March 2010

I agree, Darlington could be a bannana skin, keep it tight with a clean sheet and i'd be well happy. at this stage of the season keeping the gap between us and the others is vital a draw will do nicely ...... but of course a double over someone this season would be nice, yea i'm greedy

Isn't it colin lees turn to pick the team?? or have i got confused??

Worse case result - draw with Grimsby & Cheltenham losing.

Best case result - we win and ALL others around us lose.

I doubt Rendell will figure from the off may be bench warmer tomorrow along with Wayno.

All the recent good work could quite easily be reversed if Grimsby manage that elusive win and we get beaten at Darlo. After all they are capable of putting the odd good performaance together as they have shown against Rotherham twice though I think that the increased confidence levels and settled back line that has performed well will enable us to get a result of some sort.
It wont be any push over as I can imagine this is judgement day for the oposition - last chance saloon as it were and they are sure to throw everything at us.

There are 12 games left and although "we'll take each game as it comes" (!) I think that if we repeat the results of the last 12 games then we will more than likely be relegated. If we repeat 3 lots of the last 4 games then we'll very probably be alright!
In reality, looking at the fixtures then I think we'll be somewhere between the two - with some very tough games coming-up.
It's vital that the momentum keeps going and I am hoping for nothing less than a win tomorrow - I can't see Darlo catching us so it isn't a relegation 6 pointer that the Grimsby, Lincoln or Macc games may turn-out to be, but it is still vital that we get the points against a team that has been regularly beaten by even the strugglers (Rotherham excepted!).

The thing with Rendell is that although he has been out injured, he has been able to train to some extent since more or less a couple of days later, he's "just" been prevented from contact training until recently. It's not like he has been prevented from moving - although he will certainly have lost match sharpness.
I'm sure that if his scan went OK yesterday then he will feature in some way tomorrow. I'd probably start with Barnes (as ineffective as he has been so far) and see how it goes before putting Rendell back in the team (if he is able to feature at all).
I think that Carlisle will be less likely to feature - I think his knee is causing some problems - I would expect that he will be used sparingly when he is available.

Darlo will be no pushovers, but I think that our more solid (if unspectacular) performances from the back will match them. I would probably go with the same team and formation that started the D&R match - solid covering of the full backs and more retention of the ball will be important up there.
A draw would be no good at all for Darlo so I think that they will go forward at every opportunity, if we can keep the scores level early then I think that the chances will come and they will leave gaps at the back. I think that Thompson has been very poor, but he does work hard and I think he would possibly be the best person to partner Mansell in the centre. If we get to the end of the season and have a big gap open with the bottom two then it would be O'Kane in the centre for me - there's something of the Ricard Kell about him.
Even if Smith has recovered enough to be involved then I would stick with the team that has shown a bit of resilience over the last 4 matches. With respect to Muzzy and Stevens, I wouldn't expect to see them or Thomson starting tomorrow - it's going to be a different proposition from the thrashing we gave them only 3 months ago.

We could put some real daylight between us and some of the other strugglers with a decent result tomorrow and lift a lot confidence and morale.
It would also leave us with less to do over the remainder of the season and would allow the planning for next season to begin without having the cloud of relegation hanging over us or having to scrabble round the loan market to try and find players that will improve the squad at this late stage of the season - something that we have really struggled with since for some time other than the arrival of Zebs and Branston.

True!!