High hopes at Feethams

Because of Reynolds' ambitions, it is safe to assume that anything less than promotion come May next year would put a huge question mark against the current management set-up - and that is something Gary Bennett knows only too well.

He confessed: "I know the consequences. Me and Mick (Tait) have spoke about it and all we want is the opportunity to put it right."

After being appointed amid the summer turmoil of 2000, Bennett looks back on his first season in the management game as a steep learning curve, one which saw many changes and more than its fair share of disappointments for Darlington fans.

Those fans will be hoping to see a stark contrast to last season, as, of course, will the manager who admits he knows the costs of failure and asks to be given time to put the team back on the right track.

He added: "After the year I've had as manager, hopefully that will have made me stronger, and hopefully I will be able to put into practice everything I've learnt from the mistakes made."

Last season was a huge disappointment, with the team never looking like repeating the form shown during the season they reached Wembley.

Of course, losing key players such as Marco Gabbiadini, Peter Duffield, Neal Heaney and Steve Tutill as well as manager Hodgson, was always going to hinder any promotion bid, but supporters expected better than a 20th place finish.

After an impressive season as reserve team manager, Bennett made the step-up to become first-team boss and was immediately on the back-foot.

Faced with a decimated squad, Bennett had to rebuild quickly but unlike Hodgson, the new man in charge didn't have the same resources to spend on team-building.

The likes of Ton Kaak, Mark Angel, Stuart Elliot, Lee-Paul Scroggins, Steve Walklate and Gary Williamson were asked to fill the boots of their of their quality predecessors - but the new bunch simply weren't up to the task.

Bennett admits: "Everything was new to me.

"I was thrown into the deep end a week or two before the season started and I just had to take everything on board very quickly.

"Everything that happened during the season didn't help, with injuries and players leaving we were battling from day one."

Reynolds famously said that football was simple: all you had to do was win games. But no team is going to win many games if they end the season as the fifth lowest scorers in the Football League.

It was clear to see that despite the new management team and the ever-changing squad, scoring was by far Quakers' biggest problem.

Various double-acts were tried and tested and none really worked.

Glenn Naylor did manage 15 goals but he is injured until Christmas, passing the scoring buck to new man Barry Conlon and whichever strike-partner Bennett chooses to accompany him from the pool of Kirk Jackson, Clint Marcelle, Adam Marsh and Danny Mellanby.

Last season, Bennett often bemoaned the lack of firepower and seemingly cried out for a striker after every game.

Since then Conlon has arrived form York City, Jackson and Marsh will be expected to come good after initially taking time to adapt since joining from Worksop Town, while Mellanby has impressed everyone since his switch from neighbours Bishop Auckland.

In explaining his team's failings last season, Bennett said: "Everybody knows what area that was - it was scoring goals.

"We did create chances. If we weren't creating chances we'd have had a problem but we were creating them,. We just never had anyone to put them in the back of the net.

"Obviously, with the chopping and changing last year we used a lot of players; the injuries didn't help but you can't use that as an excuse.

"Barry Conlon is a good finisher, hopefully he'll give us that little bit more strength up front where he can hold the ball up and when things are put in the box hopefully he'll be able to get on the end of it.

"He's a well-built lad, he's got a very good spring in him and the good thing about him is that if you play the ball into him he'll hold it up.

"He'll give us that little bit extra that we were missing last season," says Bennett of the follically-challenged front-man whose career record of seven clubs and lack of hair can be deceptive as people may assume Darlington's bright new hope is approaching the end of his career.

"He's the oldest 22-year-old going!" quipped Bennett.

A year down the line since Hodgson's sudden departure, Bennett has stamped his authority on the squad, making signings throughout the season and during this summer, while some of the squad players chipping away at the wage bill have been released.

Perhaps more vital to the team than the signings of Neil Maddison and Conlon has been the club's ability to hold onto two players who would walk into most sides at Third Division level: Craig Liddle and Andy Collett.

And having enjoyed a splendid career with Sunderland as a reliable central-defender, Bennett is better qualified than most to judge just how good Liddle is.

He said: "He's a very, very good player, you don't need me to tell you how good he is.

"You offer him to any manager in our League, the league above or even Division One and they'd take him tomorrow.

"Craig's concentration is tremendous. We're very fortunate to have him and hopefully we'll be able to keep him and get to a higher division.

"Andy Collett is a great player but I'm in a position where if I ever had to play Frank van der Geest I'd have no hesitations because he's quality too."

A 25,000 all-seater stadium is on the horizon and, Reynolds has publicly said that this is year the club goes for it, following first a year of 'mistakes' and then a year of 'putting the mistakes right'.

So it is with the ever-present optimism which abounds at this time of year that Quakers look towards 2001/02, and Bennett is demanding promotion from his squad.

"I'm exactly the same as any manager,'' he added.

"The main aim is promotion. I've said that anything outside the play-offs would be disappointing, especially with everything that's going on off the pitch.

"The stadium is going up so it's important that we have a good season. It's the third season for the chairman and he wants some reward, and I'm in a position where I can produce that.

"It was a learning process the first season, and hopefully I've learnt a lot from that in difficult times.

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