MG -- "Our never-say-die attitude came through in abundance"
By Ray Simpson
[caption id="attachment_17585" align="alignnone" width="300"] Never say die -- Phil Turnbull[/captio...
Darlington manager Martin Gray praised the desire and hunger of the players as they came from behind to win their promotion clash at Moor Lane on Saturday.
Quakers were 3-1 down with 21 minutes left, but two goals from Lee Gaskell – who recovered from a dislocated shoulder – and Nathan Cartman gave Quakers three precious points.
“It was a fantastic win, it was so important that we came away from Salford with a point minimum, we didn’t want to come away with nothing,” said MG. “To finish the game in the way that we did showed fantastic character
“Your emotions go from conceding three soft goals to showing fantastic effort and desire to win the game. We gave them a two goal head start – it was about desire and hunger to get back into the game.
“We’ve bred that into the group since day one. Our never-say-die attitude came through in abundance and we ran out deserved winners.
“I always thought that if we tightened up in the second half, then we would always create chances. Every single person in the squad played an important part in the victory.
Asked about Lee Gaskell’s role in the win – he scored twice in the 4-3 win to give him 13 league goals for the club – MG said; “This is a lad who dislocated his shoulder three minutes into the game, put it back in himself, and then scored two goals – that was unbelievable.
“Nathan Cartman always comes alive in and around the six yard box, he’s the best I’ve seen at this level. He’s got a sense of where the ball is going to drop.”