NEALE Cooper's month-long chase for Sunderland defender Ben Clark finally paid off last night.

Clark's trip down the A19 to Hartlepool finally happened when he signed a deal at Victoria Park.

Cooper has been seeking competition in his back line, with Chris Westwood and Micky Nelson the only recognised senior central defenders at the club.

Shotley Bridge-born Clark did little wrong in Sunderland's opening day defeat at Coventry, but found himself on the bench for the win over Crewe three days later.

A hamstring injury hindered his chances and his last appearance in a red and white shirt was in the 3-3 Carling Cup draw at Crewe.

The 21-year-old admitted: "It's taken a while to get everything sorted but I am really looking forward to the challenge.

"I have been watching the results over the last few weeks and the lads have been doing well, but I am hoping to get straight in the side and help win more games.

"With Martin Scott here as well I am looking to come in and show them what I can do."

Clark began his career at Manchester United's centre of excellence and was regarded as one of the club's biggest prospects.

But homesickness drew him back to the North-East and he was signed for the club he supports by Peter Reid.

Clark played against Pool in last season's FA Cup third round tie at the Stadium of Light, although he took up a central midfield role.

Cooper admitted: "We have been trying to sign him for a while now and it's great to finally get him.

"It has just been about finding the right players to bring in to improve the squad -with Ben I feel we have that."

Clark captained England's Under-19 side in their Championship in Norway in 2002 and also played for his country at both Under 15 and Under 18 levels.

He admitted: "I played the first game at Coventry this season and I thought that I did quite well.

"I was left out for the next game - the manager wanted to change things. He thought he had to do that. But I thought I had done enough to stay in the team.

"I have realised that I really need to be playing now.''

Clark could line-up alongside Micky Nelson in defence at Peterborough tomorrow.

It was feared Nelson's fifth booking of the season, picked up at Brentford on Tuesday, would mean an immediate one-game ban.

But, unlike red cards, suspensions for accumulating five cautions don't kick in until seven days after the game.

* After proving both his fitness and form during a month on loan at York City, David McGurk has appealed to Darlington manager David Hodgson to throw him back into first-team action.

After helping to shore up a shaky defence at Bootham Crescent the Teessider has returned to Quakers and set his sights on earning a recall.

With McGurk an unused sub, lowly Notts County rattled Darlington on Tuesday and opened the scoring from a free-kick - the third goal from a set-piece Quakers have conceded in the last three games.

Darlington's back-line has been solid this season - only tomorrow's opponents Swansea have conceded fewer in League Two - but individual defensive errors littered last Saturday's defeat against Bury while Quakers were again stretched on Tuesday.

With the injured Craig Liddle, Curtis Fleming and Joey Hutchinson all out of the frame for the foreseeable future, McGurk could come back into the reckoning at top-of-the-table Swansea.

McGurk, 22, was carrying a back injury during the summer but is now fully recovered and said: "I'm hoping I'll get a chance in the team now.

"I'm back in training with the lads and want to get back in.

"If I'd had a good pre-season I think I might have been in the team by now, but I was out with a bad back which is fine now. I hurt my ribs against Morecambe but that only took a week to recover.

"It was good to test myself in first team football instead of Darlington reserves."

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