Source: Northern_Echo
'Team needs to create a tempo'
Darlington must take the initiative in home games to create a charged atmosphere, rather than rely on their fans, admits Mark Cooper. Saturday's 2-0 win over Gateshead was only the club's third in their last 18 matches at The Northern Echo Arena and the manager says it is the team that must give supporters something to shout about. Here at the Arena we've got to create our own tempo, said Cooper, who takes his team to Barrow's Holker Street this evening. It's that vast an area that it's not going to come from 2,000 people, so we have to create that tempo ourselves. We started well for the first 20 minutes, the tempo was up, but we didn't get a goal. We could sense the crowd's frustration and then Gateshead got into the game. We got the goal on halftime which lifted us. Gateshead started the second half a bit better, but once we lifted the tempo we were fine. There was tension about the place and the crowd were on edge, so I'm pleased we got the three points because it sets us up for the trip to Barrow. Plus, you've seen how other results have gone I've said from day one that the league is topsy-turvy. We had chances to score more goals but we'll take the 2-0 win and move on to Monday night. If we go to Barrow and get a result I expect we'll be in the top four or five, so I'd be happy with that. Team selection tonight depends on the fitness of various players who have suffered injuries. Captain Ian Miller missed out on Saturday due to a medial ligament problem, while left-back Kevin Austin is also sidelined. Austin sustained a thigh problem in the draw at Altrincham a fortnight ago, and Cooper said: If we play him on Monday we might risk him being out again, so if we leave him until next Saturday he'll be fine. Teenage midfielder John McReady will be out for about a fortnight with a hamstring sustained last week, while Gary Smith and Liam Hatch both picked up knocks in the later stages on Saturday and both had to be replaced. Smith sustained a cut to his ankle in a heavy tackle by Gateshead's former Darlington left-back Paul Heckingbottom, who earned a yellow card, while Hatch limped off after landing awkwardly on his ankle.