JAMIE CHANDLER believes Darlington can win their relgation fight and he has thanked Quakers fans for their support.

Chandler became one of the victims of Steve Staunton’s squad re-building programme this week when his loan deal was terminated by the manager.

The former England Under- 18 international has returned to Sunderland after just over three months at The Northern Echo Arena but the terms of his deal means that he will be unable to feature for the Black Cats until the original agreement ends on January 2.

Chandler was one of the few success stories of Colin Todd’s tenure in charge and the youngster had declared his desire to remain at Darlington for the rest of the season.

Todd claimed that the 20- year-old midfielder had arrived at the club as a boy but soon showed maturity beyond his years after making his debut as a second half substitute in the opening day defeat at Aldershot.

When Todd was sacked, Chandler was eager to issue a personal message of thanks to the outgoing manager for offering him the opportunity to make his Football League debut.

But Staunton, who brought in experienced midfielder Paul Harsley before the deadline for loan deals closed on Thursday, decided that Chandler was not part of his plans for the rest of the campaign.

Supporters had responded warmly to Chandler’s wholehearted approach during his 14 appearances for the club and the South Shields-born player has thanked Darlington for his chance and tipped League Two’s bottom club to get out of relegation trouble.

“I have got every confidence they’ll get out of it,” he said.

“They’ve got a great bunch of lads there who are working very hard to get themselves out of it. We were all trying very hard and even though results weren’t going our way I thought our fans were superb, home and away.

“Sometimes the crowds at home weren’t great but those who were there always got behind the lads and that’s appreciated.

“I’d like to thank everyone at the club and the fans for my chance to play football. It was a great opportunity for me to go down there and get some games under my belt and that’s exactly what I did, so from that point of view it was a good experience for me.

“I’ve got a lot of time for the club and I’d love to see them get out of there. It was difficult watching the game on Tuesday, I really felt for the lads and everyone around the club.

“But they’re all grafters and I’m sure if they keep working at it they’ll get out of there eventually. I got on great with everyone around the club as well so for them I’d love to see them do it.”

Keltie lines up for Gateshead

GATESHEAD will hand a debut to former Darlington midfielder Clark Keltie in today’s Blue Square Premier home game against Crawley Town.

The 26-year-old has signed on a one month loan along with Rochdale team-mate Jon Shaw who misses out with a calf strain.

Central defender James Curtis returns after a onematch ban but Gateshead have problems up front with top scorer Graeme Armstrong struggling with a groin injury.

“We have to show more in the final third than we did in the 1-0 defeat at York City in midweek,” said manager Ian Bogie. “We beat Crawley 4-1 on their own patch in August but I expect the rematch to be much tighter.”

Crawley are using Sunderland’s training facilities to prepare.