City's next opponents Darlington have suffered more postponements than any league team in England.

Saturday’s late call-off at Lincoln was their third in a row – and sixth in all this season.

The Quakers need to fit 19 games into the remaining 11 weeks of the campaign, starting at Valley Parade tomorrow night - a backlog of fixtures that has angered boss Dave Penney.

He said: “Our finish to the season is going to be unbelievable. There could be repercussions because we’re going to play Saturday, Tuesday for a long time and if it continues like this I can see a Thursday game coming to.

“Tiredness is going to be a factor as we’re going to be playing so often while our opposition are going to be enjoying free midweeks. We’re four games behind some teams now.”

Darlington have not kicked a ball in anger this month. Their last game was a 1-0 win at Dagenham on January 31, two days before the original Sky date with the Bantams fell victim to the snow.

Postponed games against Wycombe and Lincoln have followed to leave Darlington having played three less than City – and four fewer than several others in the top pack.

Penney admitted: “I don’t think I’ve been in this situation before.

“The players get frustrated, you can see it in training. They are desperate to play a game, they get agitated so they end up kicking lumps out of each other.

“You train all week so we all get frustrated when the game is called off.”

Franz Burgmeier, who hit the late winner against City in October, and Tim Ryan are both suspended after picking up five bookings.

Carl Tremarco, on loan from Wrexham, will make his belated debut on the left.