Darlington have this evening bolstered their promotion bid by completing the shock signing of the division’s leading scorer Nathan Cartman from Harrogate RA.

Quakers have paid a transfer fee, undisclosed say both clubs, to bring in a player who has already scored 29 goals in the league this season.

Only five of those league goals were penalties, the most recent being in a win over Quakers’ promotion rivals Salford City, who The Northern Echo understands were also tracking the former Leeds United youngster.

“I’m delighted to bring him in,” said manager Martin Gray. “I think the fans will be pleased too.

“You can’t ignore Nathan’s record. Every time you see the results come in you see Cartman’s name below Harrogate. Every week Cartman’s name was there.

“Ten clubs have been watching him, he’s been invited for trials in the Football League, I know Blackburn and Oxford were watching him, but we are the only club that sat down with him and I’m thrilled to get him.

“Hopefully his name will be below Darlington on the results every Saturday now.”

Supporters will have their first opportunity to see him Cartman in action on Saturday when Darlington face Prescot Cables at Heritage Park, weather permitting.

In November Cartman netted a hat-trick in a shock 4-1 win at Salford, and in total he scored 67 goals in 132 games for Harrogate.

This season he has 36 goals in all competitions, with 29 goals in 28 league appearances.

His 29 league goals puts him 13 ahead of the Evo-Stik First Division North second-top scorer, Droylsden’s Ciaran Kilheeney.

That scoring goals has hardly been a problem for Quakers this term, having found the net 50 times in 22 league games, speaks volumes for Gray’s desire to bring in Cartman, a player he registered an interest in months ago.

Completing the signing on a two-and-a-half year contract brings to an end a lengthy pursuit as Gray made attempts to sign the 25-year-old soon after the teams met at Heritage Park in October, when Darlington won 7-1.

That approach led to Harrogate putting the player on a contract, but Darlington registered their interest again on Monday, leading to officials of both clubs meeting on Tuesday evening in York and within 24 hours Quakers had captured arguably the Northern Premier League’s most coveted player.

Gray said: “Myself, Dave Mills and Martin Jesper went down there on Tuesday and we spoke to their chairman and manager as well as Nathan. They were all in there, they wanted to what was right for all parties.

“I wanted to look him in the eye and see if he wanted this for the right reasons, for football reasons, and he does.

“He wants to play at a higher level, he wants to play in front of big crowds and he wants to progress and achieve something in the game.”