BURNLEY teenager Kyle Lafferty could have his loan spell at Darlington cut short at the weekend.

The Irish striker, 18, has relished his first taste of Football League action with the Quakers, scoring three times in eight starts since joining on loan on January 6.

Lafferty will be allowed to remain at the League Two outfit for the next few days, since the Clarets have a free weekend while play-off chasers Darlington are in action against Shrewsbury.

Bur Clarets boss Steve Cotterill has hinted that he may then end Lafferty's spell in the north east two games early, rather than jump in to bolster his numbers with panic loan signings ahead of the trip to face Coventry City on Saturday, February 25.

He said: "We didn't want to pull young Kyle Lafferty back just to be on our bench against Wolves the other night because he will get another game in for Darlington at the weekend.

"But maybe we need to make a call to bring him back if we need another body."

Suspensions meant that Cotterill was down to his last 16 players against Wolves. And although skipper Frank Sinclair has now served his two-match ban, John McGreal's fifth booking of the season means he will now miss the trip to the Ricoh Arena along with the already suspended Wayne Thomas.

That means Cotterill, who handed third year apprentice Marc Pugh a place on the bench against Wolves, is stuck with the same number unless he can boost his numbers in the coming week.

However, he added: "People think that all of a sudden we should have loans coming in, but if Ade (Akinbiyi) hadn't gone we wouldn't be bringing any in because we wouldn't be able to afford it through the budget.

"Michael Ricketts has come in, but that doesn't mean to say that we will get any more. That is the budget we've had all season and that is the budget we have to stick to.

"We can sit here and complain and moan about that, or get on with it. I have chosen to always get on with it and that's how it is.

"Sometimes it's disappointing and sometimes frustrating, but it's where we are as a club. We have to bear in mind that any money we use up between now and the end of the season will come off what we have next year.

"It might be different if we had this scenario and it was December 26, when we were fifth in the table. But there is always the business side of the club which has to be taken into account as well."