YOU do not get a second chance to make a first impression, so they say, an expression Andrew Nelson took heed of before catching the eye on his Darlington debut last weekend.

The striker, newly-arrived on loan from Sunderland, wasted little time in showing what he is capable of by scoring twice against top-of-the-table Chorley and being a general nuisance to the home defence in a 90 minutes that suggested he could be the player Quakers have needed for some time.

Nelson’s showing last week was not quite enough to prevent a 3-2 defeat in a game that saw him score past two goalkeepers. Chorley replaced the injured Matt Urwin at half-time with Danny Eccles, and neither were able to stop Nelson as the 21-year-old scored in each half.

Nelson, who has previously played on loan for Hartlepool United and Falkirk, is one of five recent loan signings.

Williams Kokolo (Sunderland) and Alex Wollerton (Leeds) have been joined this week by defender Will Smith and midfielder Romal Palmer.

Both are 20-years-old and arrive from Barnsley and will be in the squad for today’s game at third-placed Altrincham.

Though all five arrivals are youngsters there will be no complaints if they are able to follow Nelson’s lead.

Both of his goals at Chorley were calmly-taken after being played in one-on-one, and Wright said: “It’s a skill and it showed the lad’s confidence because he hadn’t played much football recently at all.

“That was only his second 90 minutes in three months and he is looking sharp. We knew that on the Thursday in training, and he took that sharpness into Saturday.

“I’m delighted that we’ve got him and that he’s made such an impact.”

Nelson’s loan is due to last for a month, and Wright added: “When you bring in loans you need to identify the right ones, the ones that want to put a shift and want to be here for the right reasons, and not because they’re being forced to come.

“I knew about Andrew’s character because I’ve spoken to Kevin Ball about him. It was a bit tongue-in-cheek to ask for him.

“I knew that he’d just come back from injury and I knew they’d want him to go higher, but he possibly can’t go as high as he’d like to because of the January transfer window.

“I tested the water and it’s worked out. My sales pitch was to give him a run of games.

“The under-23s shuts down over Christmas, so this was an opportunity for him to play some football, get some goals and then see what happens in January.

“We are a big club at this level, he’s played for Hartlepool and been at Falkirk on loan, so he’s done his apprenticeship.

“He wants to play for Sunderland, naturally, but he is with us for a month and he has bought into us, he will put in a shift, no question about it.”

Nelson is today likely to again partner Harvey Saunders, whose confidence will have been boosted by a midweek hat-trick in Darlington’s 4-0 win against Stockton Town in the Durham Challenge Cup.

“They complement each other,” added Wright. “They are two willing workers, they will stretch teams and work hard and create openings by causing uncertainty in defenders. They ran riot.”

*Darlington fans will be able to pay cash on the turnstiles at the Boxing Day game with York City at Blackwell Meadows.

Segregation will be in place for the 3pm kick-off, with York having given an allocation of seated and standing tickets.

Quakers travel to York on New Year’s Day, and the game is not all-ticket.