Source: Northern_Echo
Cooper issues rallying cry
MARK COOPER says Darlington supporters will have a role to play when Quakers take on Salisbury tomorrow.[LNB] Winning the The FA Trophy quarter-final tie would mean Quakers would be a twolegged semi-final away from playing in the final at Wembley.[LNB] With the team in good form, having lost only one of their last 11 league and cup games, Darlington are hopeful of extending their decent run.[LNB] They are unbeaten in their last seven matches at The Northern Echo Arena, the most recent being Tuesday's 1-1 draw with Kidderminster Harriers.[LNB] Cooper was pleased with the support of the fans on Tuesday, and he said: What pleased me was the enthusiasm of the crowd. We lifted the crowd with our performance in the second half and the crowd showed what they can do.[LNB] They were a real benefit to us and when they get behind us like that you see the players respond.[LNB] I would ask for more of the same on Saturday please to help us keep the run going.[LNB] Quakers have again reduced ticket prices for the competition, they cost £10 and £5 concessions (over-60s and under-16s).[LNB] Cooper's side are 4/7 favourites to win tomorrow's match and 7/2 second favourites to win the Trophy.[LNB] Competition favourites are Luton on 2-1 with Mansfield 5/1 and Gateshead 8/1.[LNB] Young defender Dan Burn is will return after missing two games with a knee injury.[LNB] Adam Quinn took his place at Forest Green Rovers last Saturday and on Tuesday, but he is cup-tied for the Trophy as is Greg Taylor. However, Taylor is unavailable anyway due to severe bruising of the kidney and pelvis sustained last Saturday.[LNB] Striker John Cambell, who has a broken hand, could yet feature though Cooper rates his chances as minimal.[LNB] John is very doubtful,[LNB] said Cooper. He has another x-ray on Friday. He already has a pot on it, but we're not sure if it's stable enough yet to have a sport cast on. We'll find out on Friday, but it was a really bad break so his chances of playing are minimal.[LNB] Quakers were left frustrated by Tuesday's draw, a match in which Kidderminster keeper Daniel Lewis twice denied Darlington in the closing stages.[LNB] But the performance was encouraging, and Cooper said: It would've been pleasing for us to score a late goal for a change rather than conceding one.[LNB] Their keeper pulled off two great saves from Marc Bridge-Wilkinson and Tommy Wright, but I can't be too critical of the team because we played fantastically well.[LNB] In the second half we penned them in and reduced them to breakaways. We're trying to play good attacking football and it's bearing fruit at the moment.[LNB] Kidderminster will have had us watched and came to our place to try and stop us.[LNB] In the first ten or 15 minutes they were the better team because we stood off them and gave them too much respect which you can't afford to do no matter who you're playing.[LNB] Once we got that sorted out, once we got tighter and rattled a couple of cages we were the better team.[LNB]
