HAVING shown what he is capable of by making an impact as a substitute on Saturday, it is now up to James Caton to prove how important he can be on a regular basis, says Tommy Wright.

His contribution in a Darlington shirt has largely been a disappointment since he joined in the summer, unable to match the standards set in pre-season when his arrival under Martin Gray looked to be a coup.

Having started the season in the team, however, Caton has started only three games since the beginning of October, but he played a key role in Saturday’s 3-2 win at Leamington when he came off the bench, made an impact and teed up Stephen Thompson to score the winner.

“He has come out of the team and he has asked me why he’s not playing. He has had a reality check,” revealed Wright.

“He’s had some harsh words said to him by me, and I’d been the one putting an arm around him, and I told him that the nice words are going to stop he’s got to start showing me something.

“There’s been plenty of players before James Caton who have undoubted ability, but he can be as good as he wants to be, but he has to be the one that does it.”

Caton’s inclusion on the bench, having not been in the squad seven days previously at home to Chorley due to illness, meant there was no place for striker Harvey Saunders.

Wright added: “I really didn’t enjoy Harvey missing out. The way Caton trained on Thursday really got in my head, and I had that feeling that he would influence the game.

“I knew Greg Mills hamstring was tight, we knew we had to get into their full-back areas, so Caton was the one for that.”

Saturday’s reshaped line-up saw Darlington start as a 3-5-2, Thompson playing behind strikers Mills and Reece Styche having moved from left wingback, where new signing Ben O’Hanlon made his debut.

Wright explained: “I lost out on two new centre-forwards recently, so we looked at how we could get our forwards up the pitch, and Thompson’s goals justified that decision.

“As soon as Ben was available to sign I jumped on it because I knew it meant I could put Tommo in a more forward position and he backed it up – I challenged him and he responded.”