Source: Northern_Echo
Quakers boss unhappy with mentality of club
SEEING his team throw away a lead for the fifth time this season has left Darlington manager Mark Cooper in reflective mood, questioning the character of his players and the mentality of the club.[LNB] Quakers have been in a winning position in nine of their 14 games this season, including Tuesday's 2-1 loss at Rushden & Diamonds, but they have managed to win only four matches.[LNB] With only one victory in the last six games, Cooper's side have slipped to 11th and Tuesday's reverse meant they had suffered back-to-back defeats for the first time this season.[LNB] After last Saturday's disappointment at home to Wrexham, Darlington are in need of a convincing victory at home to 20th-placed Hayes & Yeading.[LNB] Cooper, who was in charge at Kettering 12 months ago, said: I had a team last year that would have been on half the money some of these players are on, and they would have beaten Rushden because they had a desire and a will not to be beaten.[LNB] They would have died for each other but I'm not sure if our boys have got that.[LNB] Character is not something you can coach. We've got some experienced players and they let us roll over and die.[LNB] I think it's the mentality running through the football club. They struggle to be consistent and play at the same level two games on the trot.[LNB] I'm getting tired of saying the same things. I can see why the club has been in a steady decline, there's a malaise running through the club and things have got to change.[LNB] Tuesday's game was the first time Darlington had led a game that they went on to lose, with four others ending up as draws.[LNB] One was at Bath when Quakers drew 2-2 after conceding twice in injury-time, while they could only draw at Eastbourne, despite scoring first against a ten-man team who had a midfielder in goal.[LNB] Cooper added: The same thing happened on Tuesday as at Eastbourne and Bath.[LNB] Can you blame the staff all the time Somewhere along the line you've got to ask questions of the players.[LNB] I brought some of them in, but I think my signings have been the better players.[LNB] If it wasn't for Paul Terry there'd be nobody in the team to drive us forward. Paul was a different class, throwing himself in front of balls on the edge of the box.[LNB] He leads by example. He put his body on the line the other night and led by example verbally, which we don't have enough of. If we all had as much will to win we wouldn't go far wrong.[LNB] We were 1-0 up and pretty comfortable for the first 20 minutes and we capitulated.[LNB] There was a lack of leadership.[LNB] We've given the players licence to go and play as much football as they want and it showed they possibly can't do it, which is worrying. But I'm still confident we can get to where we want to be.[LNB] Cooper has made three alterations to his line-up in the last two games, and it is likely he will make three more today with striker Tommy Wright vying for a recall, while Jefferson Louis joined yesterday.[LNB] Darlington used an unorthodox 3-4-3 set-up in midweek, and Cooper explained: We played 4-3-3 for a lot of games and we played 4-4-2 for a few.[LNB] On Tuesday we thought that with Paul Arnison back and with Aaron Brown on the left, who we think are both good going forward, that would give us a platform to get forward.[LNB] We worked on it in training and it got us 1-0 up and if we'd done it properly I think we'd have got more joy. But we didn't have the leadership to see us through.[LNB] I thought they were better than they were showing, but I'm not so sure now. I can't keep defending them.[LNB] We asked them to pass the ball.[LNB] They were getting it in midfield then kicking it out of play.[LNB] Hayes and Yeading, with one away win so far, are one of the division's smaller clubs with home attendances hovering around the 350-mark.[LNB] Their match at York City last month saw them take only 17 fans to Bootham Crescent, but Cooper warned: They won at Grimsby and you never know what's going to happen in this league, anyone can beat anyone on their day. If we play like we did on Tuesday night we'll get beat, there's nothing as sure as that. But if we play like we did at Barrow, or for 95 minutes at Bath, we'll win.[LNB]
