Former Middlesbrough striker Luke Armstrong reveals what his Darlington manager dad Alun told him ahead of joining Hartlepool United
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But that came as no surprise as his dad, Alun, is the manager of Pools’ local rivals Darlington in the National League North.
The Salford City striker returned to the north east to join Hartlepool until the end of the 2020-21 season.
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Hide AdAnd his spell at Victoria Park got off to a perfect start on Tuesday evening as he bagged a debut brace in a 2-0 win against King’s Lynn Town.
While coming back home was a no-brainer for the 24-year-old after a difficult spell at Salford, it has prompted a bit of banter in the Armstrong household.
“I’ve got a big family who I love so it’s great to be back up here with them,” said Pools’ new number 29.
“Before I signed, I was having a bit of banter with my dad where he was like ‘are you sure you want to go to Hartlepool?’ And I was just like ‘yeah, I’m definitely sure!’
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Hide Ad"At the end of the day, he just wants me to be playing football and enjoying it playing for a manager who believes in me and wants to play me every week.
"If he knows I’m going to be happy and playing then I’m sure he’s fine with that unless we draw Darlington in the FA Trophy or something like that!”
Armstrong will be hoping to build on his dazzling debut when Pools travel to face Woking this Saturday (3pm kick-off).
And with the side back into the play-off places after 12 games, the striker is eyeing back to back wins to keep the momentum building into the festive period.
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Hide Ad“That’s what we’ve got to do, the win [against King’s Lynn] gives us a platform to kick on,” he added.
“We’ve got the quality, we all know that and once we went 1-0 up we managed the game really well so if we can show the same quality on Saturday at Woking then I’ve got no doubt we’ll have a good chance of winning again."