Source: Northern_Echo
Smith calls for greater strength
MENTAL strength will be key in Darlington’s bid to move off the bottom of the League Two table according to midfielder Gary Smith, and he has urged his team-mates to “get stuck in” more often.
Quakers’ battling qualities contributed to Saturday’s first win of the season – a 2-1 victory over Shrewsbury Town despite falling behind in only the second minute.
Along with several teammates, Smith enjoyed his best game so far in midfield alongside Jamie Chandler and now he wants to see more of the same at Barnet this weekend.
“We all worked hard and I think we deserved the win,”
said Smith, who has played in every match this season.
“The first goal was a stupid mistake, and mistakes have been costing us this season, but I think we did well to come from behind and win.
“The gaffer has said that if we go 1-0 down we need a strong mentality to comeback and I felt we did. We got a couple of goals and I think we had a good mental attitude.
“On Saturday at Barnet we need to play with the same intensity and hopefully we can get another win.
“In every game in this league you’ve got win the battle first. It doesn’t matter whether you’re home or away, you’ve just got to get stuck in.
“You’ve got to be better than the player you’re playing against, match them physically and when you do that you can start playing your football.
“The manager just said to go in there and smash a few.
We managed to do that and then me and Jamie got on the ball and played some football.”
Manager Steve Staunton has made no secret of the higher tempo he has introduced to Quakers’ training sessions, but Smith is not complaining “Short, sharp intense training probably will get us fitter,”
he said. “We had a fitness test on Monday so all the lads were looking forward to that!
“The manager has said that in training it needs to be 100 per cent every day. The training isn’t too long, so he’s said that the time you’re in training make sure you give it a blast. If you do that all week, when it comes to a Saturday you’ll do exactly the same and that’s what happened at the weekend.”
