Foster asks for honesty

08 September 2009 11:07
DARLINGTON captain Steve Foster believes his down-hearted team-mates need to question their own contribution when conducting their analysis into Quakers’ dismal start to the season. Darlington sit bottom of the table with only a point from six games, the latest loss being Saturday’s deserved defeat at Lincoln City when Foster returned to the side. He played alongside Ian Miller in defence and, with the experienced Gary Smith and Kevin Gall also in the team, Quakers appeared to have a solid spine to their line-up. But Lincoln bossed proceedings, winning 3-0, and Foster admitted: “Everyone at the club has go to have a look at themselves and ask ‘have I done enough when I’ve been on the pitch when I’ve been given the opportunity? Have I done enough to warrant being in the side’. “Perhaps that hasn’t been in the case. “We might have a good spine in the side but names on a teamsheet mean nothing unless you put things into practice.” Quakers were buoyed by last Tuesday’s win over Lincoln in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and Foster admits Darlington were aiming to maintain their momentum on Saturday. He said: “We had a good win last Tuesday and got our first point on the board a week earlier so we went to Lincoln with hopes of carrying on that run but as a team we just never turned up. “I’m disappointed with the scoreline but perhaps more so with the way we played. “We say the right things before the game but you’ve got to transfer that on to the pitch. But after two minutes we went behind which obviously isn’t the best start. “They had just got rid of their manager which can give a new lease of life to some players which meant we had to match them, especially early doors. “With them having a caretaker manager we knew that they would come at us strongly but we just didn’t perform.” Darlington are at Accrington Stanley on Friday and Foster knows Quakers quickly need to start collecting points. “For some of the new lads they’re finding themselves in a position that they have never been in before. It’s all new to them,” he said. “They’ve got to realise that it is a tough time, as a team we’ve got to roll our sleeves up and battle hard to get ourselves away from the position we find ourselves in. “We’ve obviously got the ability within the squad. We’ve got the young players with pace, now is the time to work hard and go and get the points.” Cash-strapped Accrington this evening play a friendly at Burnley as they attempt to raise funds to pay £308,000 that the HM Revenue and Customs have given Stanley two months to raise. The Save our Stanley campaign was launched on Friday and so far £10,000 has been raised.

Source: Northern_Echo