Source: Northern_Echo
Bains happy at Quakers
DEFENDER Rikki Bains is in no in doubt he made the right move in joining Darlington, despite the club’s poor start to the season.
He made his first start on Saturday at Port Vale, a defeat that left Quakers bottom of the table without a point.
The Coventry-born 21-yearold played at right-back due to Paul Arnison’s hamstring injury and said: “It was a big decision to come up here, but as soon as I came to club I knew it was the right move.
“I’ve settled in really well and the lads are great, despite the results.
“Both the chairman and the manager are ambitious and want to push the club on.
“Everything seemed right here, so it’s been a good decision to come here.”
Bains, who was at Macclesfield last season, prefers to play at centre-half, and added: “I’m not a natural right-back but I can do a job there and ultimately it’s all about defending. Wherever you play along the back it’s all about defending and doing whatever you can when you get on the ball.
“Hopefully, with time, I’ll get better if I’m needed there in the future.”
If Arnison fails to recover from a hamstring strain, as expected, Bains is likely to keep his place when Cheltenham Town visit The Northern Echo Arena on Saturday.
Lose, and Quakers would set a new club record for consecutive league losses at the beginning of a season having equalled the current highest with defeat number four at Vale Park.
But Bains expects Darlington’s fortunes to change and said: “It’s not like we’re getting battered. There’s belief among the lads and we definitely have good enough players.
The experience in the team is clear for everyone to see, so a win will come eventually.
We’ve missed two penalties that would’ve got us two points. Things like that aren’t falling for us.
“On Saturday there was a corner that went right across goal, but on another day, that would fall to one of our players and we would’ve scored.
We’ll keep working and the luck will turn around.”
Meanwhile, manager Colin Todd has explained his reason for leaving out Steve Foster for the second game running.
The captain was left on the bench on Saturday with Matt Plummer again taking his place.
Todd said: “I didn’t leave Steve out because I was trying to be clever. I think people would agree that the whole team did well against a good Crewe side last Tuesday, so Matt deserved his opportunity.
The football club is not just about the skipper, it’s about the whole squad.”
