Darlington to hand trialists a chance

Darlington get their pre-season games underway this evening against Newcastle United and a large crowd at The Northern Echo Arena will see a handful of new faces in Quakers' line-up. The four new signings are expected to play some part Graeme Lee, Kris Taylor, Adam Rundle and James Walshaw while Mark Cooper's trialists will also see action. Goalkeeper Deale Chamberlain, centre-back Nick Wood, midfielder Jake Simpson and striker Ryan Bowman have all been training with Quakers and are all likely to be involved. Chamberlain was released by Liverpool in the summer, Wood was with Tranmere last season, Simpson has played for Shrewsbury and Stockport while Bowman is currently with Carlisle. Former Middlesbrough youngster James Gray, however, cut short his trial to try his luck with Leicester. We've not made any decisions yet, said Cooper. It wouldn't be fair without seeing them in games, so hopefully they'll get some game time tomorrow night. I think we're in a position now where we don't have to take loads of trialists in. We've got a strong group and we can afford to be picky and add one or two. The trialists will be aiming to impress in front of a crowd around the 7,000-mark as the Magpies have sold around 5,000 tickets with Quakers selling close to 1,000 with many more yet to buy tickets expected to attend. But there will be no Aaron Brown, Adam Quinn or Marc Bridge-Wilkinson this even-ing as all are injured. Brown has sustained a thigh problem in training that will keep him sidelined for a week, while Quinn and Bridge-Wilkinson both underwent hernia operations during the summer and they are still recovering. Cooper has revealed that former Quakers striker Tadhg Purcell is a target. He said: We've declared an interest in the player, but he's got to want to come to us. He's one of a number of players we're looking at to strengthen what is already a strong group. But Tadhg hasn't been training with us, he's a Northampton player and he's training with them. With the Cobblers having signed several strikers, he is down the pecking order at Sixfields and manager Gary Johnson is keen for the Irishman to leave on loan. Johnson said: Tadhg is at a stage now where it would be good for him. Darlington could give him an opportunity. He'd be going there to get some games and we'd assess it from there. I've only seen him training, and I don't know what he was like previously, so it'd be good to see him in games to decide whether he becomes part of our squad for the rest of the season. He might need to prove that away from here because he may not get the chance in the first team. Purcell was injured for almost all of last season after rupturing his cruciate and lateral knee ligaments.

Source: Northern_Echo