SEVEN games without a win have seen Darlington drop to 17th during what’s been a dismal season so far, though Tommy Wright remains positive and hopes to repeat last season’s mid-season revival.

Darlington won only one of his first 12 games in charge after he was appointed in October 2017, but a 3-2 victory at Leamington in February was the pivot for fortunes turning around.

Improved form lifted Quakers from the cusp of the relegation places, Wright’s team eventually finishing the season in 12th.

The manager retains faith in his players, and said: “We’ve had a bit of a wobble of late, but you could also say that we’ve not really got started.

“We’ve threatened to show people that we could go on a run, I still think we can, I still think we can turn it around, and I see a lot of similarities to last season.

“There’s no reason we can’t go on a good run and put ourselves in the picture.

“Last year there was an upheaval of players and there has been a little upheaval this year too. It wasn’t planned, it’s never ideal.

“You have your players in the summer, I wanted everything done early to work with the lads, but we’re now in December and three or four lads have left the club.

“It’s a bit of a new-look squad now and we need these players to bed in.”

Reece Styche and Dave Syers, two senior players, have left the club since the season started, while over the past week Wright has brought in three new loan signings: Williams Kokolo and Andrew Nelson from Sunderland, and Alex Wollerton from Leeds United.

They will all be involved in today’s game at Chorley, but he again does not expect to be able to call on the injured Liam Hughes or Simon Ainge.

“The two of them are very doubtful,” said Wright

Hughes suffered a dislocated shoulder at Chester a fortnight ago. Wright explained: “Liam has had an x-ray and has a follow-up appointment next week with a consultant.

“An x-ray doesn’t tell you if you’ve torn anything there. Once he gets his movement back, as long as he’s not torn anything, then we might get away with strapping it. But he needs full range of movement, he needs strength there.”

Ainge was injured in the FA Trophy home defeat to Telford last month, and Wright said: “The physio looked at him at half-time and he didn’t want to come off, that’s the kind of lad that he is.

“The initial problem was a whack in the back of his knee. His knee became swollen and bruised because of the kick, but we think the hamstring problem was caused by the kick.

“So it’s a bit more complex than just a hamstring, but the bruising has come out and the swelling is down, so he is on the mend.”

Alex Henshall returned to training this week after a hamstring strain, but Kokolo is likely to keep his place on the left wing.

His debut appearance was one of the few highlights of last week’s dreadful result, a 2-1 defeat at home to bottom-of-the-table Nuneaton Borough.

The 18-year-old left-winger showed himself to be direct, willing to run at defenders and not afraid of testing the goalkeeper.

Wright said: “He trained with the lads on the Thursday before the game and instantly he shone. The minute he got in amongst it he looked really bright.

“There’s pressure on in him in that he’s on loan from Sunderland and they will have scouts at each game monitoring him and request a DVD copy of each game.

“So he’s got to perform. He’s got levels to maintain and if he wants a career at Sunderland then this needs to be a success for him.

“He’ll keep his head down and get on with it, but I thought he did great last week and I was really happy with him.”

Kokolo, from France, is with Darlington for a month initially, and Wright added: “He hadn’t been playing so much, and playing for us they get to see what his mentality is really like.

“Playing in non-league is probably not something he expected, but these loans are a test of character and the loan suits all parties – we wanted another left-sided player and his name popped up straight away.

“I saw him play last year and for a couple of months I’ve been speaking to Kevin Ball about him, so we asked the question and Sunderland were great, they got it done quickly.”

Chorley will go top of the table above Bradford PA if they win what is the only National League North game of the day.

The form of the Lancashire club, however, has dipped since the beginning of the season when they were won nine of their first ten games to go top of the table.