By general consensus, Tom Portas has been Darlington’s best player so far this season with the midfielder making a big impact since signing from Whitby Town, though midfielder believes there’s more to come.

His is among the first names on Martin Gray’s team sheet, and will play today when Quakers take on Clitheroe at Heritage Park.

His energy and drive to take the ball forward has made one of the midfield slots his own during table-topping Darlington’s fine start to the season.

Supporters and team-mates alike have been impressed by Portas but he says: “I still feel as though I’ve got more to give.

“I’m learning off some experienced people like Martin Gray and Brian Atkinson, and as long as I’m getting a game I’ll keep getting better and better.

“I’m happy with how things have gone, but there’s always things to improve on.”

Portas was in Middlesbrough’s youth system as a teenager, but did not make the grade and moved on to Guisborough Town and Newton Aycliffe before joining Whitby in November 2011.

After three and a half seasons at the Turnbull Ground, he moved down a division to sign for Darlington, but believes the transfer will prove to be a wise move.

Whitby have been in the Premier Division since 1998-99 and chairman Graham Manser this week threatened to quit the Evo-Stik League to play further down the pyramid if attendances do not improve. Their last two home crowds have been 277 and 219.

“I didn’t see it, when I signed for the club, as dropping down a division,” said Portas. “In the long run, I could be playing in the Conference for Darlington.

“When I was at Whitby, they were a stable club in their division. People say that they want to go higher, but I got the impression that they were going to stay in the Evo-Stik Premier, but we don’t want that, we want to push on.

“It didn’t work out for me at academy level and this is the most professionally-ran club I’ve been at since I left school, so I’m really happy here.”

Portas played a part in Quakers’ encouraging performance last Saturday at St Neots Town, an FA Trophy match which, despite Liam Hatch’s early red card, was equal until late in the contest.

St Neots took a 2-1 lead within 20 seconds of Amar Purewal’s equaliser, the crucial goal killing off Quakers’ hopes, but Portas believes the team’s determination in adversity could prove to a key asset as the team continues its promotion chase.

“Our concentration is on the league and if we can take that team spirit into our league games there’ll be no catching us,” he said.

“Other results in the league have been good for us, but it’s in our hands and if we can take last Saturday’s work ethic into league games then there’s no team that will be able to live with us. If we’d had 11 men last week it would’ve been a totally different game.

“After we got that goal back we needed five minutes to settle, but we conceded one straight away and that was a blow. If we’d got a few minutes to settle ourselves down we’d have been playing at Bishop Auckland on Wednesday. That second goal killed us.

“All the lads were pushing each other on. There were lads were tired, I was one of them, but we’ve got a good team spirit and everyone was behind each other and that’s how we got our equaliser.”

While Alan White cannot play today due to work commitments, there will be a new face in the squad as manager Martin Gray yesterday brought in Josh Nearney from Hartlepool United.

He is a centre-back and the first year professional joins ahead of a period that will see suspensions hit Darlington’s defence, though nobody is suspended until next weekend.

After recovering from a broken cheekbone, Jordan Robinson is due to return to training within a fortnight once he has had a protective mask fitted.

Darlington are looking to make it ten league wins in a row against 12th-placed Clitheroe, who recently defeated Salford City.

“It will be incredibly tough,” said Clitheroe boss Simon Garner. “They have a great home record. The lads want to play in games like this against packed crowds and hopefully they'll thrive on it as they did against Salford City.

“Being a former league club, they've kept their fan base and they'll be a good crowd their on Saturday. They are a good experienced side with quality players all across the team and they were very unlucky not to go up last season.”