King’s Lynn Town will have to dig into their reserves this weekend after an energy-sapping week of FA Cup duties.

The Linnets return to The Walks to face Darlington in a National League North clash four days after a 120-minute battle with Worksop that ended in a penalty shootout victory after a draw in Nottinghamshire last weekend.

It was gruelling stuff, but it’s been a week when manager Adam Lakeland believes he has further fulfilled a promise he made when he first walked into the job a year ago.

“One thing that I did promise the supporters when I came into the club is, I said, ‘I'll give you a team eventually that will put the bodies on the line for you and graft every game for you and make you proud. And I don't think there'll be a person in the ground tonight that's gone home not feeling proud of the team and that shows we’ve made a lot of progress.”

Lakeland is a man who has little truck with slackers; he wants people he trusts to stand alongside him in the trenches - it’s no surprise that his assistant is 38-year-old Sam Walker, who rarely puts a foot wrong when he plays.

The character shown to see out 30 minutes of extra-time with 10 men on Tuesday left Lakeland a proud man, any nervous exhaustion nullified by the trust in his players.

“We’re developing a spirit and a resilience, a grittiness to churn out results on a regular basis,” he said. “Football's a beautiful game, but sometimes you've got to win ugly, and massive credit to the players; unbelievable fitness again. All the hard work that we did in pre-season - that's why. As it was when we played half a game at Scarborough with 10 men. The fitness levels of the players, the depth in the squad, because every sub that we had was used bar Pat (Boyes).”

Lakeland rarely bigs up individuals, but paid credit to central defender Josh Coulson, whose experience was invaluable after he came off the bench for extra-time before hammering home the winning spot-kick.

“I'm so pleased for him that he scored the winning penalty because he's had a bit of a frustrating time with his niggle in pre-season and he's obviously out of the team,” he said. “But just the way he conducts himself day-to-day, and obviously the support he gives me when he's not on the pitch and he's in the dugout. He's a true club man and I’m so pleased for him to score that penalty.”

Coulson will be on standby again, with Kyle Callan-McFadden hoping to shake off a knee injury sustained at Worksop last week and Greg Taylor nursing a knock. Midfielder Josh Hmami missed the replay but is expected to face Darlington but striker Jonny Margetts (back) is definitely out.

“I think Josh will certainly have a good chance,” said Lakeland “. He's just got a little niggle at the top of his thigh. It's nothing major, but I think playing (against Worksop), quick turnaround on a heavy pitch, it would have been a big ask for him, and then it might have risked him being out for several weeks.

“Macca has had the all-clear that all of his ligaments are intact and there's no major damage, which is massive for us -  but he's still got a little twinge in there from where he's just over extended and maybe opened up the joint, so just for that reason, it's just a case of giving him a full week to just rest and get right. We won't take any risks with him because he's so important to us.

“But when any player’s out the team – and again that's why you need your squad - Tom Wilson's come in and been outstanding. And you've got Josh Coulson who's come on there and been outstanding as well. As has Greg who's playing with a little bit of a niggle and he just gets out there and gets on with it and he's been phenomenal as well, so we're quite blessed where we've got four really good centre halves and hopefully Macca will be back on the pitch soon, but we won't be rushing him.”

Darlington, who haven’t conceded in their last six league games - are 12th in the table – three places and one point behind the Linnets.