Darlington manager Mark Cooper has been forced into adding the position of goalkeeper to his ‘to do’ list after losing Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton to Fleetwood Town.

The reserve keeper has turned his back on Quakers, just weeks after the club announced he would be extending his stay.

On May 12 Darlington said that St Louis-Hamilton had signed a one-year contract, but before putting pen to paper at The Northern Echo Arena the former Stoke stopper entered into negotiations with Fleetwood.

On Tuesday evening the Cody Army convinced him to move to Highbury where he will be number two to Scott Davies and their eighth summer signing, and he is not the first to have chosen Fleetwood ahead of Quakers this summer.

Striker Richard Brodie joined on loan from Crawley after turning down Darlington while The Northern Echo understands that Cooper held talks with at least five of the players Fleetwood have signed of late.

St Louis-Hamilton played three games towards the end of the season having joined in January.

In leaving the club St Louis-Hamilton, who turned 21 on the day Quakers won at Wembley last month, has become the sixth member of the 16 that were on duty for the FA Trophy final to have departed Darlington.

He follows the exits of Gary Smith, Chris Moore, Aman Verma, Paul Terry and Chris Senior.

Cooper admits he is disappointed that Verma turned down a contract offer in the hope of securing a deal in the Football League.

The 23-year-old has been released by Leicester City, his hometown club, from which he spent most of last season on loan at the Arena.

Verma was in the reserves at Leicester, but Cooper gave him an opportunity to impress.

He hardly missed a match during his spell with Quakers which started last November and culminated in his appearance as a substitute at Wembley.

Cooper said: “We offered him a contract but he turned the offer down. He might end up going on trial to a League One or a Two club, which is disappointing because he did really well for us.

“We’d love to have signed him, but he’s a young lad and sees his future in the Football League and good luck to him.

“It happens, there’s no resentment from our side. You know what might happen when you make an offer to a player who could play higher up.

“You can’t get bitter about it, you’ve just to move on to the next one.”