Jarrow joint-boss Oliver happy with progress at Perth Green

The former Hebburn Town boss agreed to work alongside Dave Bell at Perth Green in early-October after a short spell on the coaching staff at Division One Ryhope CW.

During that time, Jarrow have made club history after the shock win over Northern Counties East League club Yorkshire Amateur saw them reach the FA Vase second round for the first time.

They also secured a convincing 4-1 league win against Ryton and Crawcrook Albion – but defeats against Redcar Athletic and Billingham Synthonia has seen them slip into the bottom three of the table.

Oliver is confident that Jarrow will start to pull away from the lower-reaches of the table when a disrupted season continues after the four-week lockdown.

“I am thoroughly enjoying the job,” revealed Oliver.

“Me and Davey have been non-stop in the last month as we looked to improve the squad and trying to get the new players into the team.

“We are lucky to have Mark Rutter, Andy Barclay and Ian Longstaff alongside us, and they put on great training sessions for the lads.

“As the season goes on, we will only get better, the lads are listening and learning, and they want to get better too.”

Oliver was bullish about his side’s chances of improving on their below-par early-season form and pointed to their historic progress in the FA Vase as reason for his confidence.

He added: “In my mind, it’s not if we will be successful, it’s when.

“The two defeats have been marginal, and we have stopped conceding goals at regular intervals.

“What they have achieved in the FA Vase shows we are on the right track.

“The current league table does not concern me at all, the squad is as good as the Hebburn Town promotion team I had three years ago.”

Jarrow’s first scheduled fixture after the lockdown is a league game at Esh Winning – but they are still awaiting news on a date for their FA Vase second round tie with North West Counties League Premier Division promotion challengers Warrington Rylands.