By Martin Walker
There were more bumps and bruises for Darlington yesterday, giving boss Mark Cooper fresh problems ahead of their trip to Barrow tomorrow.
Liam Hatch suffered a twisted ankle in yesterday's 2-0 win at home to Gateshead yesterday, while midfielder Gary Smith took a nasty cut on his ankle.
Defenders Kevin Austin and Ian Miller are touch and go for tomorrow's trip to Barrow, while young John McReady is struggling with a hamstring injury.
But Cooper was pleased with the attitude shown by his players yesterday as they recorded their second win of the season to climb to seventh in the Blue Square Bet Premier League.
"I wanted a performance that would have more tempo and desire about it," he said.
"We haven't played fantastically well, but I can live with that if the players give me everything they've got and that's what they did.
"To have one centre-back and to still win the game was very pleasing. Joe can be pleased with his full debut in professional football. He's come from Sunday morning football, he can be proud of himself, he showed how you can go about having a bit of pride about yourself.
"I was pleased with all of them in terms of effort. There was that much tension around the place, the main thing was getting the three points.
"It's set us up for our trip to Barrow, and you've seen some of the other results. I said from day one it would be topsy-turvy and that's the way it's been.
"We have to give the fans something to go on, I understand that, but there's been that much negativity about the place for the last year or two, the first miss-placed pass or mistake gets a real grilling.
"That's up to them. I'd ask them to stay with us and get behind us and I think we can have a good season."
Click here to see Cooper's post-match reaction in full
