One man who won't be travelling to Torquay this afternoon is the suspended Carl Martin. The former Wealdstone youngster was unfortunately red carded in Tuesday's 4-2 win over Grimsby Town and will not serve a three-match ban. With Matt Tootle struggling with a dead leg, it could well have opened the door for Martin to stake a claim for a place in Dario Gradi's plans and now the Alex boss is hoping that the likeable Londoner will have learnt a harsh lesson.

Dario told crewealex.net: "People go on to me about winning the Fair Play Award and some criticize saying that winning the award means you are not successful. It isn't about winning the award every year and patting ourselves on the back and saying 'aren't we good' all the time.

"It is about me as a manager making sure I have my players available. I don't want them suspended or injured because they are flying into tackles.

"Carl was playing well on Tuesday and it was a great pity for him because he could have been playing left-back tomorrow. That is the punishment for him and he has to learn from that.

"It was a nasty tackle but he didn't mean it. The referee was well within in his rights to sent him off. He got himself in a mess and the tackle was borne out of stupidity, he knows that.

"That is the problem you sometimes have with players who have come from other clubs and I don't think any our kids would have tried to win the ball like that. Perhaps Michael O'Connor in his prime might have done, but we try and make sure they avoid making challenges like that and bring them up accordingly."