By Martin Walker

Steve Staunton has praised Darlington's fans for their continued support during what has been a frustrating season up to now for the club.

But the Quakers boss says he and his players are refusing to throw the towel in as Darlington look to win three points at home to Barnet tomorrow.

Darlington welcome Barnet, currently five places above them in League Two, to the Northern Echo Arena tomorrow hoping to make amends for two previous defeats against the Bees - the Londoners beat Staunton's men 3-0 in the league in October before winning 3-1 in the FA Cup a fortnight later.

Staunton says one of the plus points from last weekend's 2-0 defeat at Northampton was the club's fans.

"We've got to thank them for continually supporting us, for travelling around the country," he said.

"It's hard for the players and for us as a management team to accept what's going on, because we feel since Christmas we've been drawn a bad hand and should have a lot more points on the board, but it's not happened.

"The pleasing thing about Northampton was that we went into the second-half as we have been playing previously.

"Unfortunately the first 45 minutes haven't gone for us. We were unlucky, we had a few good chances and we just needed a little break and had we got one, who knows?

"But we had good support down there again, which is testament to the fans. They've been fantastic, they've kept going and they applauded the team off again for their efforts. The players are giving their all and I think the supporters appreciate that."

With 13 games to go, Darlington are 18 points from 22nd-placed Cheltenham, the safety spot, with 39 points to play for.

But Staunton added: "There's no way any team of mine will throw the towel in. I won't accept that.

"We'll perk them up again and we look forward to two home games. We want to give something back to the supporters and get a couple of victories for everyone's sake, it would certainly be a morale-booster.

"I think the wind was taken out of our sails with the Lincoln and Chesterfield games, but we can't dwell on these things, we need to go forward and that's what we'll be doing.

"The most important thing from my point of view is to keep the spirits up. I knew from day one what I was coming into, it was always going to be a difficult task.

"It's unfortunate that the window was so far away in terms of getting our own players in. we would have liked to get them in a lot quicker. But I'm sure the fans appreciate a lot of good things have happened since Christmas.

"The only way we can progress now is by putting some results together and I'm sure that will come because the performances have merited it over the last couple of months."