Source: Northern_Echo
Quakers striker ruled out of FA Trophy test
One of Darlington's reserve strikers will be handed a chance to impress in the first leg of the FA Trophy semi-finals tomorrow. Gateshead visit The Northern Echo Arena in the second part of the trilogy of games between the sides being played inside 11 days with honours even so far. They drew 2-2 in a league meeting on Tuesday at the International Stadium, but Quakers striker Michael Smith is cup-tied tomorrow having already played in the Trophy while on loan at Workington before Christmas. Manager Mark Cooper is unable to call on former Newcastle Benfield forward John Campbell who remains sidelined with a broken hand. That means Chris Senior, Tommy Wright or Nathan Modest will be called on to partner Liam Hatch as Darlington bid to reach the final at Wembley. Cooper said: "John Campbell won't be fit, he is not allowed to take his cast off for another week because it's such a bad fracture. "We've got Tommy, Chris and Nathan. With Chris we've just got to make sure he's fit enough to start the game. "Also there are the boys who are cup-tied, so it will be a similar team to the one that has got us through four rounds already." As well as Smith, also cup-tied are John McReady and Greg Taylor, both of whom were unused substitutes on Tuesday, and Adam Quinn who started the game. His place will go to Dan Burn who will slot into a defence that conceded an injury-time goal at Gateshead, leaving the large travelling support feeling deflated. Cooper felt likewise, and he said: "When you're 2-0 up with 19 minutes to play, then yes it does feel like a defeat. On the positive side, Gateshead have beaten a lot of good teams recently and it was another point on the total that we're trying to achieve. "So we're over it and we're looking forward to Saturday now. "We're both good football teams. Gateshead play really good football, like their manager (Ian Bogie) did as a player, he was a good player. "My team are playing really good football at the minute as well, both teams have got good players, players who can score goals, and it all adds up to a really exciting tie." The respective recent form of each of tomorrow's teams is also impressive. Darlington lost only one of their last 16 games in all competitions while Gateshead have been defeated only twice in that time. Among the Heed squad is a handful of former Quakers players including Paul Heckingbottom, Craig Nelthorpe, Richard Offiong as well Adam Rundle who recently joined the Tyneside club on loan from Morecambe. The 26-year-old winger began his career with Quakers and he is looking forward to playing against a club that he often did well against while with Rochdale. He said: "It's going to be two hard games against Darlington, they are a good team. "They are one of my old clubs so I know what they will be about. There's a couple of lads there that I know from my time. They are good players, so I know it will be a very hard game." Rundle was part of the Rochdale side that overcame Darlington in the League Two play-offs three years ago, and he went on to score in the Wembley play-off final defeat to Stockport. He added: "Gateshead tried to sign me in the summer, so they'd already sold the club to me beforehand. "They are striving hard to get into the Football League, and are very ambitious. "I saw that they were playing well and were in a semi-final with the chance of going to Wembley, and that was obviously an attraction as well. It (playing at Wembley) was a good experience. We got beaten, but I scored a goal and it is something that people seem to remember. "I would be delighted to go back to Wembley, but if I did get the chance to go back I'd want to win this time." Darlington midfielder Paul Terry played for a reserve XI against the club's youth team yesterday in his bid to return from a cruciate knee ligament injury.