JAMES TALBOT will vie for Darlington’s No. 1 spot with Ed Wilczynski after becoming Tommy Wright’s latest signing yesterday.

He has joined on loan for the remainder of the season from Sunderland, the Irish 20-year-old training last night with Quakers for the first time and he hopes to make his debut tomorrow against Salford City.

Wright says he would make a judgement on who will get the nod after seeing both goalkeepers train last night.

Dublin-born Talbot caught Wright’s eye while playing for the Black Cats’ Under-23s, explaining: “I went to watch Leicester versus Sunderland and he stood out. I’d gone there to look at a forward and ended up behind his goal for the second half and I was impressed by him.

“I like the way he communicated, his distribution, his confidence, it was everything that you want from a goalkeeper.”

Talbot, capped by the Republic of Ireland at U16, U17 and U19 level, has become Wright’s fifth signing, and comes after at a time when Quakers have been regularly leaking goals – they have conceded three in four of their last five games.

Wright added: “Matty Bancroft isn’t ready to challenge Ed yet, so now we have two good goalkeepers who can fight it out between themselves. It’s healthy to have competition in all areas of the pitch and we have got that now.

“I’ll have a chat with Whitey and probably Gary Brown and Phil Turnbull too. I need to see how he is in training, how he comes across in the drills we do.

“The team isn’t picked yet but I’ve got a fair idea of what we want to do on Saturday and how I want to approach the game.”

Talbot becomes the first Sunderland goalkeeper to join Quakers since Craig Liddle brought in Jordan Pickford on loan, giving him his senior debut in January 2012 since when he’s made great strides.

It is too early to say what Talbot will achieve, Wright said: “The lad has all the pedigree you could possibly want.

“Look at Pickford – I’m sure when he put on a Darlington shirt nobody was expecting him to go and play for England and be the English most expensive ever goalkeeper. You can never tell what will happen.”