Source: Northern_Echo
Modest signing could give Quakers Trophy lift
Darlington have signed Sheffield Wednesday striker Nathan Modest for the rest of the season.[LNB] The 19-year-old joins the Quakers on a long-term loan and will go straight into Mark Cooper's squad to face Bath City in the FA Trophy second round today.[LNB] Modest is a graduate of Wednesday's Academy and after a string of successful performances in the reserve side earned a place in their first team squad two years ago.[LNB] Quakers are one of the lowest scoring teams in the Blue Square Bet Premier this season and Cooper has been keen to add a goalscorer.[LNB] Modest will stay at The Northern Echo Arena until May 22 and Cooper is delighted to have finally added a striker to his squad.[LNB] We've been looking for a bit of pace up front to try and get in behind teams and Nathan will provide that, the Quakers boss said.[LNB] He's a decent player. He's very highly-rated by Sheffield Wednesday and we're hoping he will get a few goals and have a good experience with us.[LNB] We're delighted to get him on a long-term arrangement, as well. I'm conscious not to chop and change things around, we want a settled squad to take into the run-in.[LNB] We've got lots of games coming up and it's an opportunity for Nathan to get plenty under his belt and continue his development as a young player, which will hopefully benefit us.[LNB] Modest becomes Cooper's fourth signing of the January transfer window after Liam Hatch, Adam Quinn and Greg Taylor all signed permanent deals.[LNB] The Quakers boss, who also hopes to sign a midfield playmaker, believes his new signings will improve his side's chances of climbing up the table into the play-off positions.[LNB] Adam and Greg have done quite well. We're still getting to know them and obviously we've not been beaten yet so it's a good start for both of them, he said.[LNB] I think more importantly they're good players. Whether they're Conference players or not, they've got to be good.[LNB] When we bring players in, what we certainly try and do is make sure that they're better or at least as good as what we've got and are going to improve us this year and next.[LNB] Modest is likely to make his debut against Bath today, but Cooper will be forced to reshuffle his side with Quinn and Taylor both cup-tied after playing in previous rounds for Crawley and Kettering.[LNB] If Darlington win they'll be just three steps away from the final, but Cooper insists he is not getting excited about a potential day out at Wembley yet.[LNB] I'm sure there will be 30 or 40 managers thinking the same at the moment, that they're three games from Wembley, Cooper said.[LNB] If you get through this round and get a good draw again, you're only two games and anything can happen.[LNB] We're not counting our chickens.[LNB] We've got a really tough game against a team who are right up there in the form table in Bath.[LNB] I don't think they've lost for a while. They won at Newport and last week drew at home to Luton, which isn't an easy game. But we're at home and we're playing pretty well.[LNB] Earlier in the season, the two sides met in a thrilling encounter, in which Quakers were 2-0 up in the 90th minute, only for the game to finish 2-2.[LNB] Cooper admits he is still wondering how it happened, but hopes his side can go on a good cup run, starting with a win today.[LNB] I'm still having sleepless nights about it, because I'm still trying to work out what happened, the former Kettering boss said.[LNB] Sometimes these things happen and there's no reason for it apart from a little bit of luck and things going the wrong way.[LNB] It's not something I want to happen again.[LNB] In my experience cup runs have been good.[LNB] It's a game of football and if you can keep winning games confidence rises and the more games we win the better for me, but our main priority is still the league and doing as well as we can in that.[LNB]
