Jarrod Black: Chasing Pack

Chapter 3

Throng“Jarrod,” shouted Des, the first-team coach.

Jarrod was miles away, lost in the thoughts of a chaotic pre-season that had seen him start at St James’ Park and end up back at the Arena with his beloved Darlington. He looked up at Des, puzzled.

“Warm up,” said Des through gritted teeth. He looked agitated.

Jarrod remembered where he was. He stood up and shuffled in front of his teammates in the dugout and leapt up onto the grass. Manager Gary was gesticulating wildly to his players as they toiled in the warm sunshine, unable to make in-roads into the Twente penalty area. An hour of the game had passed, and Darlington were two goals down, in danger of making this final home friendly of a high-quality pre-season a thorough disappointment.

Two minutes later, the change was made. Gav Selley trotted forlornly towards Jarrod, and they clasped hands. Jarrod’s appearance onto the pitch at least stirred some applause from the big crowd. There was suddenly a wave of excitement. Last season’s player of the season, the man brought in last year to steer the club successfully to promotion from League Two at the first attempt, the player who had landed a dream loan move to Newcastle and was back in town, was now in his usual midfield spot.

He slotted in beside Peter Van Vloten, signed from the visiting team right at the start of pre-season. Part of the deal to bring him to the club was to play a friendly, and a home game with a team with European pedigree was great PR for League One Darlington. Peter’s performances hadn’t been met with much praise, but he’d been played out of position on the left. Now, in this second half of the final pre-season game, he found himself in his preferred central midfield role, and was now alongside club captain Jarrod Black.

Peter seemed to sense his chance at forming a partnership with Jarrod. Jarrod was immediately on his wavelength, and in their first moment of action together, Peter went in bravely in a tough challenge. Jarrod was hovering just behind him to pick up the pieces, and immediately sprayed the ball out to Connor Naughton. The crowd over on the left rose as one from their seats. The tricky winger teased his marker and slid the ball nonchalantly through his legs as he lunged in.

Peter was already up off the ground and sprinting towards the penalty area, past Jarrod who was anticipating the scraps on the edge of the area. Connor’s arrowed cross was perfect for Peter to run in, almost stumbling, to meet the ball with a low header. His joy as the ball whizzed past the Twente goalkeeper and hit the net was clear to see. Centre forward Will Telfer raced over and joined him as he ran away to celebrate with the crowd, the rest of the players, including Jarrod, catching up and jumping on the goal scorer.

Jarrod had played in the team with Peter previously, but they had not been paired in central midfield before. There was a real connection, and Jarrod was keen to explore it further. The next moment came when a long clearance from the Twente keeper came towards Jarrod. He prepared himself to contest the header but heard a booming voice behind him bellowing ‘Petaaaaaaar!’ and stood aside. Peter flew past him to meet the ball, brushing aside the visiting player and clearing the ball long into touch. Peter turned and ran back past Jarrod, and they slapped hands. Jarrod was loving it.

The crowd was well and truly entertained now, following on from a first hour that had tested their resolve. Sam Basaan’s low ball down the right for the latest substitute Roni Verelo had the crowd on their feet again. A feign to pass inside and then a samba-like shimmy from the silky midfielder took him to the byline and he chipped in an inviting cross. The roar subsided as the crowd took a collective intake of breath, before on-loan Anton Broman connected and sent a header over the keeper for a dramatic equaliser.

The young forward—a cause for much optimism since he had caught the eye pre-season after joining from Newcastle as part of Jarrod’s own short-term and much-publicised loan the other way—stood in front of Bay 66 with arms stretched out wide, taking the acclaim. It was a great team goal though, and Darlington had looked good value since Jarrod’s introduction.

The final whistle wasn’t long in coming, the players making their way around the field to give thanks to the supporters for coming down on this Monday night ahead of the weekend’s opening league fixture. This had been a good result for Darlo in the end; Jarrod felt that he had done enough to merit a place in manager Gary Hollister’s line-up for the first day of the season at Shrewsbury Town. A pre-season return of two wins, three draws and a narrow defeat against highly fancied Championship heavyweights Derby County had given everyone at the club much optimism.

A third consecutive promotion was not out of the realm of possibility. Gary and owner Gerry Lincoln had expressed much more realistic expectations for the season to the media though, and quite rightly. This was a League One containing names such as Charlton Athletic, Huddersfield Town and Birmingham City. Mixing it with that calibre of club would be a big test.

“Well done, lads,” said Gary as he addressed the troops in the changing rooms. “That was a very important second half for us, and for our fans too. Well done, Peter, what a good goal that was, and well done, Wes, for keeping them out at the start of the half.”

The media throng just inside the foyer of the reception in the stadium was unusually big. Word was getting round of a potential big signing being made that evening. Gary was surrounded but shooed away the pack and suggested that they talk with “the real stars of the show, Peter Van Vloten and Jarrod Black”. The two of them were walking together past the crowd when they heard that and turned to each other with a little smile. They stopped and faced the media and smiled again.