HE started his Darlington career inauspiciously, but now Greg Mills feels he is beginning to show supporters his capabilities.

Mills scored in Wednesday’s 2-1 defeat to Salford, getting the final touch on a passing move involving three team-mates, and was voted the sponsor’s man of the match.

It was his seventh appearance since joining, but now admits he was not fully fit, having suffered an injury while with Nuneaton Town.

He explained: “Before I signed I had been injured, so didn’t have a pre-season. I got back to playing and had played twice for Nuneaton before I came here, so the gaffer showed a lot of faith in me.

“When I first joined I wasn’t anywhere near fit enough, so I’ve gone away and done stuff away from the club and now I think I’m starting to show the fans what I’m about.”

As well as Nuneaton, manager Tommy Wright also had Mills at Corby, and the 27-year-old added: “I’ve played under the gaffer for a long time now.

“He knows me, I’m one of those players that as soon as I get my first goal the floodgates could open – it happened at Corby and it happened at Nuneaton.

“I don’t want to tempt fate, but now that I’ve got my first it’s a weight off my shoulders and hopefully I can get another soon.”

Mills is one of three players Wright has signed from Nuneaton – Luke Trotman and Mitchell Glover the others – but his former club this week overtook Quakers in the table.

Mills added: “If I didn’t think Darlington could go places then I wouldn’t have come, it wouldn’t have made any sense, I might as well have stayed at Nuneaton if I didn’t think we could get out of this.

“I honestly think we’ll get out of it. There’s no need to panic, there’s a lot of games still to play, but we do need to start picking up results.”

* Darlington have appointment David Collinge as their first ever supporters’ liaison officer. The post, say Quakers, will act as a bridge between the club and its fans. Collinge is on the Darlington FC Supporters’ Group board, and volunteers on matchdays.