New boy will score us goals – Penney

Aug 30 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

DARLINGTON manager Dave Penney believes new signing Liam Hatch can give his shot-shy Quakers the physical presence they have been missing in attack.

The 6ft 3in Peterborough United forward has signed on a three-month loan as Penney searches for a solution to the lack of goals that has hampered the Quakers progress so far this season.

Darlington are still looking for their first win of the season, but after running Watford close in the Carling Cup Penney believes his team are close to embarking on a winning run.

He hopes the signing of Hatch, who only joined Peterborough seven months ago in a £150,000 transfer from Barnet, will be the catalyst.

“We just needed a bit of physical presence. There is no timescale on Pawel Abbott’s return from injury and as good as Adam Proudlock and Billy Clarke are they don’t have that physical presence that I think we’ve been missing so far this season,” he said.

“We’ve delivered plenty of crosses into the box in the games but there’s been no one to put a finishing touch on it so far. Liam’s great in the air so hopefully he’ll help change things.

“I would say that so far out of the five games we’ve been excellent in four and a half of them but things just haven’t happened for us. We’re not a million miles away from where we want to be, so there’s no sense of panic yet.”

Penney, who has also extended the loan of Clarke from Ipswich until January, is braced for another tough game against Macclesfield, who ran Premier League West Ham close in midweek.

The Darlington manager has no new injury problems to contend with, although Abbott, Andy Oakes and Clayton Fortune all remain on the injured list, for the visit of the Silkmen.

Keith Alexander’s side are pointless after their three games but their fierce resistance against the Hammers proved the Quakers face a stern test.

Penney said: “They haven’t won but neither have we and that is not a reflection of how good we are.”