THERE has been enough drama at Darlington in recent weeks to fill a book, admitted an embattled Dave Penney after an extraordinary day at Chesterfield.

It was the latest chapter of a bewildering campaign.

Quakers have had plenty to deal with, and Saturday saw perhaps the most bizarre episode yet during what has been an unforgettable season.

Less than two hours before kick-off Penney lost two of his key strikers when a question mark suddenly arose over the eligibility of Liam Hatch and Danny Carlton.

On Friday Quakers were alerted to the fact that the Football League were unsure whether or not the on-loan pair should be playing for a club in administration. A final decision will be made this week but neither is likely to play today against Bury.

At 1.15pm on Saturday, Penney was told by the administrators that neither should play, and further to that he lost another regular in Rob Purdie after he failed a fitness test.

More twists were to come once the game started.

Forced to change formation to 4-5-1 due to the lack of forwards among the club’s 13 senior players available, that number was soon reduced to just 12 when Adam Griffin went off injured.

That blow came on 35 minutes, so on came teenager Josh Gray. But five minutes later he was back on the bench, also injured.

“The fella upstairs isn’t looking after us!” joked Penney, who two weeks ago was left fuming when an overnight hotel stay before the trip to Barnet was cancelled at short notice.

If a book was written on how to carry on regardless through adversity, Penney would perhaps be best placed to write it himself.

“I told the players to get their heads right and not to use what’s happened to Liam and Danny as an excuse,” he said.

“We went to Barnet and got a result, despite what had happened with the hotel, and I told them we could come here and get a result too.

“It wasn’t until 1.15pm that I knew Danny and Liam couldn’t play, then Purds failed a fitness test, which meant we were down to 13 pros.

“We had to re-jig the team, we only had one recognised centre-forward in Pawel Abbott and we got two injuries.

“It was a great result considering all the problems we’ve been having recently, all the problems before the game and all the problems during the game. To end up making their keeper man of the match was terrific.”

That was Tommy Lee, who was the busier of the two keepers.

After the break he kept out efforts from Abbott and David Poole, the save from Abbott just after the restart being the most impressive as he got down low to his left to beat away a powerful strike.

At the other end Przemyslaw Kazimierczak spent the second half recovering in peace after being accidentally kicked in the head by Jack Lester.

It was a different story during the opening 45 minutes when, with Hatch and Carlton sitting in the stands, Quakers had struggled to adapt to their late change of formation and personnel.

Penney’s side were under pressure for long spells but, with centre-back Ian Miller in good form, they restricted the hosts’ chances and Kazimierczak had few saves to make.

“It was a tough game,”

added Penney. “Chesterfield were trying to get into the top seven, we had to change our personnel and shape very late and it took us ten or 15 minutes to get going.

“We’ve played that shape before and it’s always important that the two wide players work hard. But Griff got a kick, then Josh did his hamstring.

“We always planned to stay in the game until the last 20 minutes, then go 4-4-2 and send Curtis Main on and try to win the game.

“We did more than simply stay in the game. I don’t think ‘Chem’ had a shot to save in anger apart from maybe one which bobbled about five times before it reached him.”

Before Griffin went off the winger did manage Darlington’s first shot on goal, a volley save by Lee just before the half hour mark, and the next effort came in first half injury time from Franz Burgmeier.

Burgmeier, on for Gray, who was on for Griffin, thundered a fierce drive from 30 yards that Lee had to push over.

With Burgmeier on, Darlington appeared more potent after the break, and could even have had a winner as a Main cross was met by Abbott in injury time. But he headed straight at Lee.

After such an eventful day, a winner would surely have been too big a twist to wish for.

Penney added: “If Liam and Danny can’t play again this season then so be it. We’ve seen today players come into the team and they just got on with it.

“They battled away and deserved more than a draw.

“You could probably write a book on what’s happening at this club at the moment.

“It’s been one thing after another.”