Pools ace Luke like a chip off the old block!

DARLO CHIEF HELPS SON SHINE FOR RIVALS

- Craig Stoddart

THE thought of Darlington’s manager living with and passing on coaching advice to a Hartlepool United striker would ordinarily raise eyebrows among supporters, though the unusual circumstances means fans will understand Alun Armstrong taking a keen interest in Luke Armstrong.

Quakers chief Alun is naturally delighted to see his son banging the goals in – Luke having scored six goals in his first six games for Pools on loan from Salford City.

“It’s a strange one. Being the Darlington manager, I shouldn’t want Hartlepool to do well, but at the end of the day he’s my son!” laughs Alun, who was a goal-getter during his playing days with Middlesbrough and Ipswich Town among others.

Luke, 24, has returned to the Armstrong family home in Wolsingham, Co Durham, during his loan to Pools, but there was no chance of playing again for his dad, as he did previously in his career at Blyth Spartans.

Humble

Alun explained: “If we had the money I’d loved to have had him, but we were never going to afford it.