The New Year starts with a trip to Spotland as Quakers look to regain the momentum following a somewhat frustrating Christmas period. Darlington drew with Rotherham United before loosing out to a late goal against MK Dons in a match where they were more than good value for a point. Darlington had chances against both sides to gain better results but now travel to Rochdale knowing that a win in needed to get back on track.

Following two recent games Quakers have slipped to fourth in the table however with two games in hand on teams around them they remain well placed to push upwards and back into the automatic promotion places. Darlington boss Dave Penney however will doubtless be keen to regain a top three slot ahead of those games.

"The players won't be out on New Year's eve," said the manager. "We are training today and then will travel quite late to Rochdale. We will prepare properly as we always do and just hope the game gets played. Rochdale is a bit notorious for having games called off. We are hoping that it is not the case. We can't really afford to have any more games postponed. We are already two behind everyone else and that will become three because of Barnet being in the FA Cup."

Quakers have endured a tough set of fixtures and that is set to continue with Rochdale. Despite a slow start to the season the Spotland based side have picked up speed and are unbeaten in their last five outings. Rochdale are just above mid-table but should be serious contenders for a play-off place based on recent form. Dale however do have a few concerns going into this game.

"Marcus Holness is struggling with his back,Lee McEvilly limped away from Macclesfield with an achilles injury, Kallum Higginbotham is also really struggling and we have the two casualties to illness Tom Kennedy and Rory Prendergast," said Keith Hill. "I think that we are going to have to ring Chris Beech to get one or two of his Youth team lads back off their holidays.
It is not a laughing matter to be honest because we are expected to compete against every team that we play regardless of whether they are top middle or bottom. When you look at the riches of Darlington compared to ours it is a mismatch but we have got lots of energy, effort and quality."

Quakers are likely to be without skipper Steve Foster due to illness. It should mean that Ian Miller will keep his place in the team whilst Richie Foran could also miss out due to a back and hip problem. Darlington's game at Rochdale kick's off at 3pm.