Stockdale plans the perfect parting gift to team-mates

9:02am Monday 12th May 2008

IT WAS an emotional farewell yet a satisfying one. After playing what would appear to be his last match at the Darlington Arena, David Stockdale now wants to make promotion his parting gift.

A deal has been agreed worth around £600,000 with Fulham for the promising goalkeeper and, although nothing has been signed, he is 95 per cent' certain to be leaving this summer.

And, having already had a brief chat with Cottagers boss Roy Hodgson, Stockdale is intent on following his new manager's first instruction to the full.

"I went down to Fulham, had a look around, and the first words he said to me were, Make sure you get Darlo up this season.' That's all he said, concentrate on that, do your best and I'll look forward to working with you next year'," said Stockdale.

It was as if he had those words ringing in his ears against Rochdale. After Ian Miller had heroically put Darlington 2-1 up in the second-minute of injurytime, there was still time for Stockdale to pull off a stunning close-range save to deny Rene Howe a second equaliser.

Stockdale's acrobatics, despite struggling with a foot problem that forced him to withdraw against Peterborough a week earlier, highlighted why he has rose to prominence this season.

The 22-year-old has kept 20 clean sheets in his first season as a League Two goalkeeper and he hopes his display against Rochdale highlighted to manager Dave Penney and the Darlington fans just how much promotion still means to him.

He said: "As a Premier League manager Roy Hodgson has other things on his mind, like keeping Fulham up, so for him to take the time to come and see a signing that isn't a £1m signing from Inter Milan, stuck in my head.

"He knew where I'm from, what I'm doing, how big I am, how many clean sheets I've had.

"It just stuck in my head that I wanted to be at that club because of how keen he was for me to concentrate on Darlington rather than on the move ahead.

"Some people can get side-tracked and I'm glad I didn't because it gives the wrong impression to Roy Hodgson if he was watching.

"If I hadn't had the best of games he might have thought is he the right player for a Premier League side?"

After the final whistle had blown the former York goalkeeper, who was working as a bricklayer for a couple of months before joining Darlington in August 2006, was one of the last off the pitch.

He was keen to acknowledge the Quakers fans who have come to worship his work in the club's promotion push this season.

"It was a very emotional occasion for me," he said. "It was my last home game as everybody knows.

I made a save late on but it's one of those things, it's my job.

"It was so important for me mentally to play. I wanted to do it for the fans.

"I didn't want anyone to think I was backing out of a big game.

"My main job at the moment is to get Darlo into League One and we're one step closer to that now. I hope we get through it because then people can't say I was thinking about Fulham.

I'm not thinking about it at all, I won't be until July when I start pre-season with them."