DARLINGTON yesterday made their first signing since the end of last season when they brought in former Billericay player Liam Hughes.

The 25-year-old is an attacking midfielder who only joined Billericay in February having previously been with Barrow and Guiseley in the National League and Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Premiership.

But it is with Cambridge United where Hughes made his name, coming through the youth ranks at the Abbey Stadium and going on to play almost 200 games for the club, including two appearances at Wembley in the 2013-14 season.

The first was in a 4-0 FA Trophy final win against Gosport Borough, when Josh Gillies was a team-mate and so too was ex-Quakers captain Ian Miller, while the U’s returned to the venue a few weeks later for a play-off victory against Gateshead.

The 6ft 4in midfielder scored against Gateshad too, heading home in a 2-1 win, and after 18 months in League Two during which time he played 46 games he switched to Inverness.

While Hughes is Quakers’ first new addition of the summer, several players have signed new contracts lately, namely: Gillies, Ben O’Hanlon, Terry Galbraith, Joe Wheatley, Mitchell Glover and Stephen Thompson.