DARLINGTON may not have got the result that they wanted on Saturday, but Marc Bridge-Wilkinson enjoyed his recall after being frozen out of action in the final games of Mark Cooper’s tenure.

The playmaker was one of Quakers’ key performers last season, but did not feature in any of Cooper’s final four matches and was not even on the bench for the defeat last week at Braintree Town.

Caretaker boss Craig Liddle returned the 32-year-old to the starting XI against Hinckley United and he played the complete 90 minutes for only the sixth time this season.

He said: “It’s been a frustrating not playing, but that was my first full game for quite a while, I enjoyed it and there’s a lot more to come. I need to get a bit more gametime under my belt and I’m sure I’ll improve.

“I’ve not really had a run of matches, I’ve been in and out.

I think the most amount of games I played together was three and I think I played in different positions in each of those.

“So it’s been frustrating, not just for myself, but for everyone.

“We’re looking to see what happens now with the manager and kick-on.”

Despite being overlooked by Cooper, Bridge-Wilkinson bears no malice towards the man who was sacked last Monday along with assistant Richard Dryden.

But he revealed that he let Cooper know of his frustration, and he admitted: “I did go to see the manager because you’ve got to show that you’re not content to sit on the sidelines. Obviously only 11 people can start, but everybody not in that 11 wants to play.

“Maybe it’s a bit old-school, but the way I was brought up was to ask why you’re not playing when you’re not selected.

“It wasn’t a question of telling the manager what to do, I just wanted to know why I wasn’t in the team.

“I think the style that we’ve played this season is a bit different to last season, the ball going from back to front a bit more. Maybe the gaffer didn’t see me as part of that.

“That was up to him, his job was on the line and he made his decisions, but I got on perfectly well with the gaffer and I like him.

“I’ve got to thank him for bringing me to the club last season and hopefully he’ll go on to get another job and do well.

“I don’t think anybody had a bad word to say about the gaffer or Richard. They were both nice guys and they treated everyone with respect. It was unfortunate that things didn’t work out.”