DARLINGTON received another boost last night when Joe Wheatley became the fourth player of late to commit himself to Quakers.

The midfielder follows Stephen Thompson, Josh Heaton and Ben O’Hanlon in agreeing a new deal, Wheatley putting an end to weeks of uncertainty by signing a new contract.

The highly-rated prospect has played a big part in Darlington’s improved form since January, the midfielder becoming a regular in Tommy Wright’s team.

But he was dropped recently, however, missing matches with Curzon Ashton and Tamworth, when he stalled on accepting a new deal.

After concluding successful talks with Wright, Wheatley returned to the starting XI last weekend against North Ferriby and has now put pen to paper on a two-year deal.

“It’s a big plus for me and the club,” said Wright. “I didn’t want to go down the road I went down, but sometimes you do. Joe was getting a lot of attention, it was clearly affecting him.

“We were going through contract negotiations at the time and it wasn’t sitting well with me that we weren’t making progress and Joe wasn’t as playing as well as he was when we weren’t talking about it.

“He took a breather, he got his place back in the team on the back of a really productive talk with him last Thursday in training and with his dad on the Friday.

“We came to an agreement, he played Saturday and Joe was back at his best.

“Everyone was delighted to see him back in the starting XI and I’m delighted that he has signed.”

Wheatley joined Darlington summer after being released by Boro, but then manager Martin Gray did not give him a start in any of the first ten matches.

He scored on his first start at home to FC United in September, and in total has made 23 appearances.

Now that Wheatley, Thompson, Heaton and O’Hanlon have signed new deals, Wright expects another of his squad to soon commit himself to Quakers.

Meanwhile, Wright and assistant Alan White are the main speakers at a fans’ forum this evening at the Blackwell Grange Hotel (7pm).

Directors John Tempest and David Johnston will also be in attendance at the event, which is being staged at the hotel as Blackwell Meadows is unavailable due to a function being held there.

Tomorrow Darlington are at Telford, hoping to continue their good form of late - one defeat in ten games, six of them wins.