Darlington sign Thompson (From The Advertiser Series)

Darlington sign Thompson

9:30pm Sunday 9th September 2012 in Sport By Craig Stoddart, Deputy Sports Editor

Darlington have tonight signed Durham City forward Stephen Thompson.

Quakers have been chasing him since the summer with manager Martin Gray hoping to bring him in before the season started.

He has finally done a deal with Durham, which bolsters forward ranks that already include Shaun Reay, David Dowson and Steven Johnson.

"He's different to others that we've got at the club," said Gray.

"He's strong and aggressive and probably the opposite to David Dowson.

"They played together at Durham last season and scored a lot of goals between them."

Quakers wish for the fee involved to remain undisclosed, but Gray laughed off recent suggestions that Darlington had offered £20,000 for the player.

It is understood that West Auckland were also keen on the 23-year-old who played his final Durham game yesterday when he was subbed in an FA Cup defeat at home to Shildon.

Thompson becomes the fifth play to swap Durham for Darlington this season.

At Heritage Park he will again link up with ex-City team-mates Gary Brown, Arjun Purewal, Amar Purweal and Dowson.

Gray added: "Durham have been great to deal with during the talks.

"We've taken a lot of players off them, which can't have been easy for them and they could've been awkward with us, but they haven't been at all so all credit to them."

Thompson came through the ranks at Middlesbrough and then played in the Football League at Port Vale before dropping down to AFC Telford. He signed for Durham in th summer of 2010.

He is likely to make his debut in Wednesday's game at Heritage Park against Newton Aycliffe.