Gaskell: Darlington should suit me perfectly

He joined on Wednesday from Ramsbottom United, the 30-year-old leaving behind a club bottom of the table without a win in 12 league matches this season to sign for third-place Quakers.

He had been with the Lancashire club since 2010-11, aside from a short spell with Warrington last season, and scored an impressive 113 goals in 187 games, three of them coming this season.

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One was a last-minute consolation against Quakers at Heritage Park on September 8, a game Darlington won 2-1, while Martin Gray’s side also won the reverse fixture 3-0 last weekend.

Gaskell said: “When we played up at Darlington it was a tighter game, but Darlington kept the ball very well and probably had 80 per cent possession. It was my type of football, I like the ball at my feet, but if I do need to win it in the air I can do that as well.

“The way they play football should suit my game perfectly.

“I’ll be meeting up with the lads at the ground on Saturday. One of the coaches came down to Bury on Wednesday afternoon with a form for me to sign to make sure I was registered for Saturday.”

He will make his debut this weekend at Heritage Park against Marine, with Gray to decide if his new recruit should be on the bench or replace one of Nathan Cartman and Graeme Armstrong in the starting XI.

The current front pairing have five goals each, but Gaskell, who is aiming for 25 goals this campaign, is confident he will be handed sufficient time on the pitch.

“Football is cutthroat and you’ve got to work hard and you’ve got to be playing well to stay in the team,” he said. “I believe that if I’m playing to the best of my ability then I’ll be starting games, if I go off form then I’ll have no excuses and I’ll be dropped.

“As a striker you’ve always got to be looking for 25 goals a season and if you can do that then you’ve done your job for the year.”