Source: Northern_Echo
Gillespie happy to switch off Soccer Saturday
NEW Darlington winger Keith Gillespie has spent the last few months watching football on television, so now he wants to make up for lost time. The 35-year-old has been without a club after being released by Glentoran in June after failing to agree a new contract, and on the Saturdays since has since found himself on the sofa watching the action. But after finally making his Quakers debut, a month after joining them on trial, Gillespie is keen to make an impact. He signed an initial onemonth contract last week, making his first start in Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Wrexham, and he said: I wanted to sort something out with Darlington a few weeks ago but it got held up, something to do with some new transfer system. So I had to speak to the PFA who hurried it up. I've missed my Saturdays and playing football. I've been sat watching Soccer Saturday on Sky for the past few months so it's nice to be playing again and I want to help Darlington do well and have a good season. I'm hoping to impress and earn a contract until the end of the season. I've had a good month here, the staff and players have been great, the stadium is great, so everything is in place. Gillespie played the full match at the Racecourse Ground, including the referee's controversial lengthy injury-time during which Wrexham grabbed their winner. He said: It was my first first-team game for about sixand- a-half months and I lasted alright I thought. The manager asked how I was feeling and I just gave him the thumbs up. It was just disappointing to lose in the last minute. When a team scores, then you can't do anything about it and that's the frustrating thing. You never lose that winning mentality, everybody hates losing. It's awful to concede a goal and know that the referee is about to blow for full-time. I'd asked him how long was left and he said ten minutes. I asked if that included injury time and he said yes there's 38 minutes gone, we're playing three extra'. And Wrexham scored in the 95th minute. We're a little bit aggrieved. Plus, Michael Brough was fouled in the build-up to their goal so we were expecting a free-kick but the referee did not give it. We just need to pick ourselves up now and look forward to next Saturday against York.