Source: Northern_Echo
Hard work is now starting to pay off, says Cooper
IT SEEMS that the message is starting to sink in.[LNB] After Darlington failed to see off Eastbourne Borough a month ago, despite the hosts being down to nine men and fielding a midfielder in goal, Mark Cooper ordered his players to return to training on the Sunday, giving them double sessions as a punishment for such an insipid performance.[LNB] A week later, Cooper was still not happy, despite a fairly routine 3-0 win against Forest Green Rovers.[LNB] But following an encouraging 2-2 draw against Luton Town, and three points on Saturday at home to Southport, Cooper and his Quakers' charges are growing with belief.[LNB] The win made it seven unbeaten for Cooper's men, and he will sorely want to make it eight tonight at Bootham Crescent when his team visits York City.[LNB] It's pretty much a local derby for Quakers, against the Minstermen who are now without a manager after Martin Foyle resigned on Thursday.[LNB] But for Cooper it represents another step towards rebuilding a Darlington side that last season were deeply entrenched in a losing culture.[LNB] He said: We've never changed our outlook. That's one defeat in 11 games now, I believe, and we've just kept going. If you can put a few wins together, it makes the start of the season very good.[LNB] In terms of pressure, we want to start at York how we finished the Southport game, but once the players cross that line you don't know what you're going to get. Fingers crossed, we'll get them organised and we'll have a look how York have played and pick a team to get a result.[LNB] Get a result is something that Darlington have failed to do, but they finally struck gold on Saturday. For Cooper, the hard work on the training ground is starting to pay off.[LNB] He said: We're trying to change the mentality of a losing team into one that refuses to lose. But you can never please everyone.[LNB] I don't think I'll ever be completely satisfied. You can never question the players' will to win, we're just trying to improve the quality. We want to play football in the opposing half, pressure teams into mistakes, get the ball in the box and create chances. Until we get that right, we'll continue to work as hard as we do.[LNB]
