Pic: Chris Booth
PHIL TURNBULL thinks Darlington‘s hot start to the new season has given the Quakers the confidence they can duke it out at the top of the National League North.
Last week, the Step 2 division had three different leaders in what promises to be a campaign no one dare take their eyes off.
FC Halifax topped the pile last Saturday evening, before AFC Fylde‘s point with Salford City on Monday saw them take up the mantle.
But by Wednesday Darlo, who won the Evo-Stik NPL Premier title last season, were at the summit with four wins and a draw from the opening five games thanks to a 2-0 win against Chorley.
Momentum
Former Gateshead midfielder Turnbull knows it’s very early days, but feels it’s important to show you mean business.
“Last season most of our games were put to bed by 70 minutes,” Turnbull told The NLP. “So far this season every game we’ve played has been a 95-minute game. We can’t take our foot off the pedal.
“We got a good 2-0 win against Chorley on Wednesday night. It was another clean sheet and a big three points because that took us top of the league.
“I know it’s only early doors, but when you go into a new league you want a good start as it gives the lads the confidence we’re carrying on that winning momentum.
“You often see teams who’ve done well and got promoted generally take that momentum into the new league. That’s what we’re looking to do.
“Had we got off to a bad start we’d maybe question ourselves. Straightaway we’ve got that feeling we can pick up three points – I know I have personally.
“When you win the way we have been you forget how to lose. Don’t get us wrong, I can tell you straightaway it’s a much harder league than the one we were in, but we’re doing the business at the moment.”
Turnbull knows what it takes to get promotion from the division having done it with Gateshead. Rated as one of Non-League‘s best midfielders, Quakers boss Martin Gray snapped up the 29-year-old last year when he decided to leave full-time football to pursue a career in teaching.
And he’s already noticed that the National League North is a different beast to tame than when he last played at Step 2.
Turnbull said: “I was talking to a former team-mate the other day who said, ‘Philly, this year I don’t think the Conference is as good as I’ve seen’. I’m thinking, ‘Aye, because all the teams are in the Conference North!’
“Before a pre-season game we were on the coach and I was with one of the lads saying, ‘Every team here is like a Conference team. Altrincham, Alfreton, Tamworth, Stockport County, Halifax’. And they’re big Conference clubs.
“Even the ones who aren’t established Conference clubs, they are big Conference North teams. It’s going to be a big ask.”
Turnbull feels a strong mentality in the dressing room will help them bounce back from bad results.
Efficient
“My best days were with Gary Mills at Gateshead. That team was frightening. The team I’m in at the minute are maybe not quite that good, but I’ll tell you what, it would run them close,” he said.
“We’re so organised, we’re an efficient team, we score goals from set pieces and once we take the lead we’re good with it.
“Obviously we will have a negative result at some point. But when I signed for Darlington the lads in my car school said, ‘If we get beat, there’s always a reaction’.
“We very rarely lose two games in a row because the gaffer is on top of everything. We want to keep on this good run and keep getting as many points as possible.”
