MARK Cooper admits he is happy with the squad he has assembled at Darlington and believes competition for places will help the club mount a serious promotion challenge.

Cooper completed his eighth signing of the summer this week when Spanish midfielder Jonatan Sanchez-Munoz put pen to paper on a one-year deal at The Northern Echo Arena.

Apart from a goalkeeper as back-up to Sam Russell, Cooper believes he now has the strength and depth in his squad to improve on last season's seventh-place finish in the league.

In Monday's impressive win over Lincoln City, Quakers boasted a strong bench that consisted of Jamie Chandler, Chris Atkinson, Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Liam Hatch and James Walshaw, the kind of back-up most Blue Square Premier League clubs would envy.

Cooper believes having such competition for places will only be good for his squad, but insists players won't be guaranteed a place in his starting XI purely on reputation.

"That's what you want. We're not going to achieve what we want to with 11 players, we've got to have competition in all places," said Cooper, whose side welcome Mansfield Town to the Arena today.

"People have commented on the players who were on the bench on Monday and if we are going to succeed we need that kind of competition.

"You look at the likes of Luton, who pay £100,000 for a striker. It's not going to be easy, we know that, but I'm pleased with my squad.

"I'm pleased because we've had a bit of spark and enthusiasm, which is what we were crying out for. If that continues, with the quality we've got, we'll win games.

"It's good because those boys not in the team now realise that they've got to be playing at the top of their game, and the boys in the team have to play at the top of their game to keep them out, and that's what we want.

"The lads who are playing well and scoring goals stay in the team, unless I feel there's a really drastic need to change it. Looking at Monday's performance, you'd have to say they did the business.

"But you've got to look at who you're playing against. They might offer a different threat to Lincoln, so we'll have a look at where Mansfield's threats are and see which team we decide to play at the weekend."

Today's match will be the first time the sides have met since May 7, when Darlington beat Mansfield in extra-time to lift the FA Trophy at Wembley.

That trophy now stands proudly in reception at the Arena, with several pictures of the memorable day hanging in the corridors.

For the Stags players who were involved at Wembley, it will perhaps be an unwanted reminder of their disappointing day, but Cooper isn't worried about that.

The Quakers' boss, who expects captain Ian Miller to recover from a bug in time for today's game, says he is treating the visit of Mansfield no differently to any other game and insists he is focused on his side winning their third successive match.

"The fact we're playing Mansfield won't have any bearing on the game for me, though it may for the supporters. I'm sure the players will just see it as another game, and certainly I'll be reinforcing that.

"Maybe walking past the Trophy will wind their players up, but if you're going to be a successful team you have to live with that.

"I'm sure Manchester United don't worry about teams coming into their stadium and seeing all the trophies and pictures on the walls.

"They've brought a lot of players in and it would suggest they're starting to gel. I'm sure it's going to be a tight game, it usually is against Mansfield, we've just got to concentrate on getting three points."

* Of the 16 Darlington players who featured at Wembley, only five are likely to start today: Sam Russell, Paul Arnison, Ian Miller, Liam Hatch and John Campbell.

Tommy Wright was this week released, meaning that seven medal winners from Wembley are no longer at the club: Gary Smith (unattached), Chris Moore (Gateshead), Tommy Wright (unattached), Danzelle St Louis-Hamilton (Fleetwood), Chris Senior (Alfreton), Aman Verma (Kettering), Paul Terry (Thurrock).