By Martin Walker

Kevin Richardson admits the hectic fixture backlog could be having a detrimental effect on the Darlington players.

The Quakers will play their fifth game in 15 days when Torquay United come to the Northern Echo Arena tomorrow.

Darlo have struggled to hold on to their leads in recent home games, and Richardson thinks fatigue could be a factor.

"You look at the number of games we're playing and you look at fatigue, is it a mental thing or a physical thing?" said the assistant manager.

"So that's the sort of thing we'll be looking at more in the next few games, because we've had more or less the same team in the last few games, so we may have to look at that, only for the benefit of trying to get points.

"When we do go in front it seems to be a mental thing and they have to deal with it. They've got responsibilities and they are trying.

"We've got to learn how to keep our lead better. It's not an individual thing, it's a collective thing. As a unit we attack together and defend together.

"The defenders can defend, we'd like to think that, but the midfielders and strikers need to do their bit as well. They've got to give their support, because you defend from the front."

Richardson admits it's a juggling act showing the players where they're going wrong but keeping them motivated at the same time.

"It's a combination of both," he said. "It's part of the game and players have to accept that. They take the criticism and they take the praise, although it is difficult at the moment, but the players are giving it their all.

"We just have to keep pushing them and trying to get a little bit more out of them and hopefully, collectively, it's enough to get a point or three on Saturday."

And Richardson is hoping Darlington can avenge their 5-0 defeat at Plainmoor in December, even if the Quakers personnel is very different now.

He said: "You could use the last result as a motivation if you had the same players, but we're a lot different now.

"We don't like getting beat anyway, but if you do it's the manner you go about it. That trip was bad enough but to lose by five, it was a really poor day and we haven't forgotten it so we'll be doing our best to try and reverse it on Saturday."

Click here for the latest injury news ahead of tomorrow's game with Torquay.

Click here to buy tickets.