Positive Steve Staunton relishing the battle

Feb 13 2010 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

STEVE Staunton would rather talk about the positives surrounding Darlington’s revival than dwell on the heartbreak of Lincoln City’s last minute equaliser on Tuesday night.

Although the Quakers were denied a second successive home win by Lincoln last-gasp leveller, Staunton is delighted with the improvements they have shown in the last couple of weeks.

Despite looking dead and buried last month in Coca Cola League Two, Darlington are just five points behind second-from-bottom Grimsby Town and 11 behind Cheltenham Town having played two games less and their manager feels a late charge to safety could be underway. “It’s all about how we react on Saturday – can we make it three unbeaten games on the bounce?” said Staunton (pictured above).

“I would take four points from every two games until the rest of the season. I’d take a draw at Morecambe. It’s going to be a good battle. It’s going to be a really wet and cold Morecambe day, we know what to expect. Morecambe are a big, physical side, we know what they’re all about.”

Morecambe won 4-0 at Darlington earlier in the season, but Staunton does not believe revenge is something anyone will be talking about as so much has changed in terms of personnel since then.

Only three of Darlington’s starting line-up back in November are likely to be involved in the return fixture this afternoon and Staunton feels there are more important things to worry about than past results.

He said: “There’s no revenge on the agenda, we’re just looking to improve and do better than we did in the first half of the season. Since the winter break we have looked solid, we have looked like a team that can score, can defend and can play some good football.

“We’re staying positive. We’ve played the majority of teams in this league and when you speak to other managers they say there isn’t a great deal of difference.”

Staunton’s plans have been helped by the fact he has no new injuries to worry about and should be able to name the same side for the trip to Lancashire.

Midfielder Jeff Smith recovered from a dead leg to play 89 minutes of the draw with Lincoln and is set to retain his place in the starting line-up. Chris Lumsden has also returned to training.