Youthful Jarrow urged to learn from play-off final shoot-out agony

Experienced defender Darryll Donnelly has called on Jarrow’s youngsters to learn from their Northern League Division Two play-off heartache.

Kennie Malia’s men have surpassed all expectations throughout the season as they remained in contention for the second tier title until the final weeks of the season before ending the campaign in third place behind champions Horden CW and runners-up Yarm and Eaglescliffe. Jarrow came through a penalty shoot-out in Tuesday’s play-off semi-final against Chester-le-Street United as goalkeeper Jak Wells saved two spot-kicks before scoring the winning effort to move his side within 90 minutes of what would have been a historic promotion into step five of the non-league pyramid.

Thornaby were the visitors to Perth Green for Saturday’s final after they saw off Yarm and Eaglescliffe in midweek - and it was the Teesside outfit that earned promotion as Jarrow came out on the wrong end of their second shoot-out inside a week.

There was obvious and understandable disappointment for a largely youthful Jarrow squad in the aftermath of the loss - but Donnelly has insisted their frustration must be harnessed as they look to challenge for promotion once again next season.

He told The Gazette: “From when I’ve been at the club over the last two months, the club has all of the ingredients to go higher. Kennie has taken it to heights it’s never been before and I think we can all be proud of ourselves. It’s a tricky one and it was hard after Saturday but we remain in good spirits.

“The biggest thing to take away from the season is the potential and it’s a very, very young side and there is real potential and quality in there. As a team, we didn’t quite click on Saturday and maybe we didn’t create enough but that’s the only disappointment from the game. We have to learn from that and that was said after the game.

“It’s excellent experience for us as a young side and the young lads will be better for it. We have to keep the squad together now and I have full confidence we can go again and use what happened on Saturday to challenge in the division once again.”

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