Story by Kevin Luff - 29th December 2006
Darlington entertain Shrewsbury Town this coming weekend in their final game of 2006. Quakers have been in disappointing form of late and the situation was not helped with a flu virus which ran rampant around the club ahead of the Boxing Day clash with Mansfield Town. The result was few fit players for the clash with the Stags and a predictable result.
Darlington players have been ordered to keep their head down over the last couple of days in an attempt to recover from the bug and manager Dave Penney will today learn what he has to deal with when the players return to training for a head count. Thanks to the virus and the disappointing run of form before it the festive period has been distinctly lacking in cheer.
The visiting Shrews have not had a great Christmas period either. Defeats against Barnet and Walsall have left Shrewsbury manager Gary Peters struggling to recall a worse Christmas time. With only one win in the last five neither side are in great form at present and both will believe that this is the best time to play each other believes Peters.
"Every club goes through patches where results aren't going right, I'm very disappointed and I can't remember a worse Christmas," admitted Peters. "The preparation we've done has been right but the two results so far haven't come, we've got two more games to come and we've got to make sure we turn those into wins and keep battling on. It's good to have the game against Darlington so soon as we can right the wrongs of the last games and we want to get on with it quickly. Darlington will be thinking the same as they've just had a defeat by Mansfield so will be trying to pick themselves up."
With Penney still unclear as to who he has available for selection on Saturday the Darlington boss will be unable to finalise his plans for the match. Defender Mark Albrighton will likely miss the game after aggravating his hamstring problem in Tuesday's game with Mansfield. The defender is on loan from Boston United and despite being around a week short of full fitness he bravely played in the game against Mansfield Town on Boxing Day.
Shrewsbury should be able to call upon former Darlington defender Richard Hope after he took a knock in the previous match against Walsall. Ryan Esson is likely to miss the game whilst Derek Asamoah's return from an ankle injury may have to be delayed until New Year's Day and the home match with Stockport County. Losing the twenty-five year old to injury has affected Shrewsbury believes Peters.
"We lost him against Hereford and in the two games since I think there has been a slight difference in our attacking play as they can get tighter to us. They feel that we haven't got that electric pace so don't drop off and allow us more space and that affects everybody. We hope to have him fit for one of the games over New Year," said Peters.
Darlington's game at home to Shrewsbury Town kicks off at 3pm on the 30th of December.
