SKIPPER Neil Maddison insists Darlington have no reason not to set their League Two sights high with the squad manager David Hodgson now has at his disposal.

The former Middlesbrough midfielder celebrated his 100th League appearance for his home-town club with a deserved 2-1 win at Rushden on Saturday, as Quakers moved up to ninth in the table.

Since an embargo on transfers was lifted in September, when the club came out of administration, Hodgson has wasted little time in re-shaping his squad with several high-profile signings.

Former Premiership trio Alun Armstrong, Craig Hignett and Clyde Wijnhard have all been lured to the Williamson Motors Stadium. Hignett's two-goal blast at the weekend means the threesome are now tied on four goals apiece.

Following the arrivals of Sam Russell and Curtis Fleming in the summer, Maddison feels he is part of a powerful squad.

"We have high expectations with the squad we now have and I think a top-ten finish is well within our reach," said Maddison.

"The squad is looking as strong as it has ever been.

"We still have Craig Liddle, Curtis Fleming and Joey Hutchinson to come back so we can only get better.

"Our problem this season has been consistency and if we can address that I'm sure we'll be challenging in the top half, maybe even for a play-off place.

"If we are still up there in January then we will fancy our chances."

Maddison believes the improvement in performance on last week's win over Wycombe was reflected in the dressing room after Saturday's game.

"We were ready for this game and we knew that it was probably our most important game so far this season," said Maddison

"In the changing room last week it felt like we'd lost, but today it was a totally different atmosphere.

"We played some great stuff in the first half at times and got behind Rushden with some lovely one-touch football.

"At one-nil up I think we expected them to come at us a bit. We dug deep, caught them on the break for our second and I don't think there was any danger that we would lose.

"We've got a great result, which we needed."

Despite Gary Mulligan's late goal for Rushden, Quakers have the second best defensive record in League Two - conceding 12 - behind second placed Swansea.

Maddison singled out the performance of Matt Clarke after the defender turned in one of his best performances in a Quakers shirt.

He said: "Matt Clarke was immense at the back. I think that's the best I've ever seen him play.

"He kept everyone together and kept driving the team forward."

On the few occasions Rushden did manage to break down the defence, they found keeper Russell in superb form.

Russell produced saves in either half, from on-loan Wolves striker Gary Mulligan, to preserve Quakers' lead.

"When he's called upon I don't think there is any keeper in the division better than Sam," admitted Maddison.

"He pulled us out of trouble a couple of times when they looked dangerous.

"We've all got jobs to do and Sam has done a great job for us today.

"He was unfortunate to concede and I thought we should have had a free-kick before the goal because their lad was all over me when I tried to clear the ball."

Quakers will earn a brief respite from League Two commitments when they entertain Yeovil Town in the first round of the FA Cup this weekend.

With Liddle expected to make his long-awaited return Maddison is keen to carry the League form into the Cup.

He said: "We have a big game against Yeovil coming up and it would be nice to have a little Cup run.

"It will be our toughest game of the season, make no mistake about it because they are a good side. We've won two games on the bounce and we need to get three now."

Read more about the Quakers here.