Darlington boss Mark Cooper is weighing up a move for Crawley Town striker Richard Brodie as he looks to bolster his attacking options for next season.

DARLINGTON boss Mark Cooper is weighing up a move for Crawley Town striker Richard Brodie as he looks to bolster his attacking options for next season.

It's only nine days since Quakers lifted the FA Trophy at Wembley but thoughts have already turned towards next season's promotion push, with Cooper setting his sights on bringing at least one new striker to the Northern Echo Arena.

Last season, Quakers boasted one of the best defensive records in the Blue Square Premier, but they also had one of the worst goalscoring records.

Cooper is said to be interested in Brodie, and the Quakers boss is understood to have already contacted the newly-promoted League Two outfit about the striker's availability.

The Gateshead-born front man moved to Crawley from York City at the beginning of last season after scoring an impressive 30 goals to help the Minstermen reach the 2010 Conference play-off final.

But since his big money move South, Brodie has spent large periods of the season coming on from the bench, and with Crawley now planning for their first season in the Football League, manager Steve Evans has revealed the striker is likely to leave the Broadfield Stadium.

Evans said: "We got an offer from a League Two club, but we decided that if we are going to let Richard move, either on loan or a permanent, we'd let some people know that have shown an interest before.

"We are going to sit down again on Monday and decide what we think is right for us.

"It's no hidden secret that Fleetwood are admirers, as are Darlington, Wrexham and Grimsby Town, and if Richard stays down it'll be with a club fighting to win the league.

Brodie would be an ideal candidate for Cooper and despite interest from other clubs, the fact Brodie originates from the North-East could put Quakers in pole position to land him.

Money could prove a stumbling block for Cooper though, with Brodie reported to be earning £2,500-per-week at Town but after last weekend's FA Trophy final win, Quakers boss revealed he may have to spend that little bit more if it means getting the right players.

Quakers finished seven points adrift of the play-offs last season but Cooper is hoping to sign five players to help his side kick on when the new campaign gets under way in August.

Cooper said: "For me, it's now about recruitment and trying to get the four or five players I think we need to build a promotion push.

"I've already had meetings with players we're trying to sign and hopefully we can get one or two sorted relatively early so we're not chasing around like we were last year.

"I know what I want, the chairman, myself, we know who we're trying to get. They may cost a little bit more money but we've got to make sure we get the right ones.

"I think if you look at the stats last season, we had one of the best defensive records but one of the worst goal scoring records so there might be a clue in there that maybe we need to score a few more goals and maybe people who have scored goals at our level and maybe the one above too.

"I think we need five players that I expect to be in the team, not five players that are going to be squad players. Five players that are going to be in the team week in week out that will make us a formidable prospect for anybody next year."