Quakers have won four out of 13 games this season

Darlington boss Mark Cooper believes a lack of a winning mentality has been a problem in his side's mixed start to the Blue Square Bet Premier season.

The Quakers are ninth in the table after Saturday's 1-0 home defeat by Wrexham, and have won just four of their 13 games so far.

"The players have got to start improving," Cooper told BBC Tees.

"Why did they finish bottom last year? A lot of those players are still here. Why are we still not winning games?"

Cooper continued: "We've had 13 games, losing two, but we've not done enough to win enough games.

"It's my job to to change it, we might bring in players or give other players a chance to make us better."

Clubs in Blue Square Bet Premier have played more game than their league counterparts and six more than those in the Premier League, although Cooper accepts that all clubs have the same workload.

"It's a tough schedule; Saturday, Monday, Saturday, Tuesday - it's a lot of games to cram in, but we can't use that as an excuse.

"I said to the players, 'you can only go on about how good you are as a team, you've got to start showing it on the pitch'.

"That might have been the problem in the last year or two, players think they're better than they actually are, and we've got to try to change that."

E-mail this to a friend

Printable version