Jordan Pickford’s World Cup heroics made people realise what a great goalkeeper he is. Before the World Cup, and even during, they were wondering whether he was the right choice to be England’s number 1. He brushed those criticisms aside with brilliant performances in the knockout stages which helped England fans believe in the team again. Where did it all start? The Conference.

In the 2011/12 season, Darlington were in complete disarray. Players were released and sold left, right and centre, and they had to heavily rely on youth. At one point, they had a physio who was still a student at Teesside University. The club was inevitably heading towards extinction. Darlington’s extinction was delayed until the end of the season thanks to supporters’ funding but despite their demise, there was one final shining light for the fans to enjoy – Jordan Pickford. The 17-year-old Pickford joined the Quakers on loan from Sunderland on 21st January 2012 and made his debut for the club the same day against Fleetwood. Darlington lost the game 1-0 courtesy of a goal by Danny Rose, which was disputed to have been offside. Despite the defeat, Pickford had a solid debut with the Newcastle Evening Chronicle saying he “confidently collected a string of crosses, and his judgement and distribution was sound.” One highlight of the game for Pickford was saving a shot from Andrew Mangan that was heading towards the far corner of the net.

During his spell at Darlington, Pickford played 17 games, conceded 39 goals, kept just 2 clean sheets and was not on the winning team once. One particular low point of Pickford’s time at the club was his second game in a 3-2 defeat against Hayes and Yeading. After just 6 minutes Darlington were 2-0 down with Pickford being responsible for both goals. The first goal came after Pickford fouled Julian Owusu and the referee awarded a penalty while the game was just a couple of minutes young. Louie Soares then converted the penalty. The second goal came from a poor throw from Pickford which was calmly intercepted by Daniel Wishart who then went on a run towards the goal with no Darlington players attempting to stop him and slotted the ball past Pickford.

In another game against Alfreton, with the score level at 1-1, Pickford fumbled a shot which fell kindly to Paul Clayton to convert, and the match ended in a 3-1 defeat. Six weeks later against AFC Telford, when Darlington were 2-1 up, Pickford made a grievous error. As the ball was bouncing and midfielder Richard Davies was running towards him, he completed miskicked the ball. Instead of clearing it away, Pickford kicked in front of the goal and Davies was quick to take advantage to equalise. The match ended 3-3. Following the miskick, manager Craig Liddle and his Darlington rallied round him to reassure him.

In a post-match interview, Liddle said:

Jordan Pickford is very disappointed, but if anybody can come away from this with credit, it’s Jordan. When a goalkeeper makes a mistake, it usually ends up in the back of the net but he’s got nothing to be disappointed about. I’ve told him that, the lads have told him that, he’s disappointed because he feels he cost us a goal, but there are no fingers being pointed at him.

Despite his mistakes, Pickford was still a reliable asset. He made a few important saves in Darlington’s 2-2 draw aginst York – one in particular close to full time as he stopped York from stealing all three points after saving a shot from Paddy McLaughlin. He also made a creditable performance in Darlington’s 2-0 defeat to Southport. After Pickford joined Everton, Southport manager and Everton fan Liam Watson talked about his performance in that game.

On the night, we [Southport] played well and won 2-0 but all everyone was talking about after the game was “How good was the keeper?!” He was immense.

A huge positive from Pickford was his resilience. The week after the Telford game, he bounced back from his miskick and kept his first ever clean sheet against Grimsby.

Jordan Pickford went full stretch to push wide a shot by Rob Duffy. Pickford went on to enjoy a fine game and he was frequently involved. The 18-year-old, on loan from Sunderland, was quickly out of his area to intercept a forward pass into Liam Hearn’s feet, the keeper belting the ball down the pitch, and within seconds, he had punched the ball clear of Hearn’s head when meeting a left-wing cross.

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When the visitors did catch sight of goal, Pickford was alert. Grimsby left-winger Peter Winn cut inside Neil Wainwright and fired in a low shot towards the near post that Pickford parried before reacting quickly to Liam Hearn’s follow-up.

Northern Echo

Pickford stopped more shots from Shaun Pearson, Liam Hearn and Andi Thanoj to earn his first career clean sheet.

Reality then hit Pickford and Darlington after a 5-0 defeat to Lincoln with the Quakers losing 4-0 half-time and conceded three goals within eight minutes. During that game, Pickford was pictured shouting at defender Neil Wainwright after Darlington conceded a goal.

Craig Liddle recently spoke about how vocal he was on the pitch.

He wasn’t afraid to give lads almost twice his age an earful if he thought they were doing something wrong. He’d be yelling at the defenders playing in front of him. He certainly wasn’t frightened of them.

Darlington’s relegation was confirmed the following game as they let a two-goal lead slip in the final eight minutes to draw 2-2 against Bath, just a couple of minutes after going 2-0 up. But Pickford was undeterred. The first game since the club’s relegation was confirmed, the 18-year-old kept his second clean sheet of his career in a 0-0 draw against Newport with a performance similar to the one against Grimsby.

The Exiles [Newport] continued to probe with [Sam] Foley curling a free-kick towards the top corner of the net, but Pickford was equal to it with [Jake] Reid poised to pounce on the rebound. The goalkeepers were the two best players throughout the first period.

It was Pickford back in action at the start of the second half, first saved by [Aaron] Brown when [Gary] Warren’s header beat him at a corner and then tipping over magnificently to deny the same player from another set piece.

South Wales Argus

His last game for the club (and Darlington’s forever) was a 2-0 defeat to Forest Green. It was the end of Darlington, but the beginning of Pickford.

On 25th February 2013, Jordan Pickford went on another loan spell in the Conference, this time at Alfreton. He joined the Reds after an injury to first-choice keeper Phil Barnes. The next day, he made his debut for the club and tasted victory for the first time as Alfreton vanquished Hyde 5-1. After his debut, manager Nicky Law was full of praise for him.

He was a major plus point tonight. After the injury to Phil, we asked about Jordan. He is the third choice at Sunderland which says everything, and for Martin O’Neill to let him come down, we are very grateful of that. The young goalkeeper’s kicking was immense and made a massive difference to us.

In his second game for a club, he repeated his heroics against York with Darlington for Alfreton against Wrexham as with the score level at 1-1 and into the third minute of injury time, he tipped over a shot from 10 yards from Dele Adebola and then punched out the eventual corner to earn a point. The next game, he was Alfreton’s man of the match in a 1-1 draw against Tamworth after making a string of saves. He then kept his first clean sheet for the club in a 3-0 win over Ebbsfleet. Following the win against Ebbsfleet, Nicky Law again praised Pickford, believing he was destined to be a first-choice Premier League goalkeeper.

He is a bright lad and he has got a big, big future ahead of him. Speaking to people at Sunderland, they rave over gim and they think that he will play at the top end of the Premiership. I am sure he will do. If you look at the last four games, we have conceded three goals, and it’s no coincidence that Jordan Pickford coming in has been a big part of that.

In the next game, Alfreton came from 2-0 down to beat Gateshead 3-2, with Gateshead manager Anth Smith pointing the finger at Pickford for keeping Alfreton in the game and denying Gateshead from extending their seemingly comfortable lead.

At 2-0, I didn’t see this coming, and Pickford has kept Alfreton in the game with a great save from Jamie Chandler. If tht had gone in, we would have been cruising and the lad made an excellent save from Josh Gillies in the first half, so he has kept his side in it.

Pickford then suffered his first defeat as an Alfreton player as they lost 2-1 to Braintree but despite that, he was named the club’s man of the match for the second time for denying Braintree from turning the defeat into a thrashing. Another defeat followed against Lincoln but Pickford was named Alfreton’s man of the match for the third time in five matches after Lincoln had 10 shots on target with Pickford saving 8 of them in a 2-0 loss.

The Lincoln game was the start of things to come as Pickford went on to keep three consecutive clean sheets. The first was against Southport in his second trip to Haig Avenue, where he kept his cool and didn’t let one aged Sandgrounder get to his head.

I remember going for a drink of water and one old bloke shouts, “Hey you, young lad! Your grandad is under that grass!” I just turned around to him, gave him the thumbs up and said, “Nae problem!”

He missed the 3-2 defeat to Stockport due to an injury but he kept his second consecutive clean sheet in a 4-0 win over Barrow, and his third in a 3-0 win over Tamworth. In the Tamworth win, he also earned himself an assist after a very long ball from Pickford allowed Nathan Arnold to chip the ball over the Tamworth keeper to make it 3-0. His clean sheet run ended in a 2-0 defeat to Newport but was named Alfreton’s man of the match again, meaning he was the club’s man of the match in each of the last three defeats he played in.

His last game for Alfreton, and as a non-league player, was a 2-1 win over the same team he played in his final game for Darlington – Forest Green. His spell at Alfreton was 12 games, 4 clean sheets, 4 man of the matches (all of which were in games he didn’t keep a clean sheet in), an assist and a truckload of saves.

Pickford originally wanted to join a Football League club before he went to Alfreton but was unsuccessful. But he had no regrets whatsoever, as his spell at Alfreton helped him continue his progress by climbing up the pyramid.

I wanted to try and find a League club at the time, but that didn’t come about and I went out to another club in the National League. It was just a case of playing games for them and I kept a few clean sheets there as well. It was another great experience and a case of going in at the deep end and taking my chance.

The Alfreton gaffer at the time was Nicky Law, who is now head of recruitment at Burnley, and he had signed a few younger lads on loan there. I remember Aden Flint, who is now doing well at Bristol City [now at Middlesbrough], was there just before me too. That loan helped me get my next move, as Nicky recommended me and put in a good word to Gary Rowett at Burton Albion.

It was an eye-opener for me and the big thing was that you had lads there who were working part-time and playing football for their livelihood. They’re playing to help pay for mortgages and I was just an apprentice there to learn, so you’ve got to do your best and it was all an unbelievable experience.

His spell at Darlington prepared him well for what was to come at Sunderland and Everton. The unrest at the time was a lesson well learned as in the past two seasons, Pickford became over-reliant. In spite of all the disjointedness at Darlington and leaking goals every other game, it didn’t affect him whatsoever. Considering he was 17 and 18 at the time he was at Darlington, one would assume a goalkeeper that age would have his confidence shattered. Not Pickford.

It was my first taste of first-team football when I went out to Darlington, in the National League at the age of 17. They were struggling and I was asked if I wanted to go there and help them out. My coach thought I was getting beyond the U18s football I was playing with Sunderland and I played nearly 20 games for them and it was quality. I really enjoyed it, it was a great experience for me, despite the team getting battered every week during what was a difficult time for the club.

Another thing he learned in non-league football was adapting to criticism and abuse. Against Belgium in the World Cup group stage, he was criticised for “using the wrong hand” and “not being tall enough.” But he brushed those harsh words away and used them to improve himself after getting used to hearing taunts at him in his days at Darlington and Alfreton.

Places like Wrexham and Southport away when there are not that many people there, you are a young lad and you’re having abuse hurled at you. That is what teaches you and that’s what you laugh about now. And when you get that stick, that’s when you become better.

When there are just 500 fans inside a ground, you can hear everything they say, every little word that is getting said. So that is what turns you from a kid into a man.

One more thing Pickford learned was mistakes happen. As previously mentioned, he made a few at Darlington and Craig Liddle backed him up at the time, and reiterated his defence of him.

Jordan made mistakes but you expect that. The most impressive thing was the way in which he didn’t let the odd mistake bother him.

He still makes the odd mistake now. But very rarely. And whenever he does make a mistake, he is his own toughest critic. He doesn’t let them get to him and always vows to do better next time.

Jordan Pickford is now adored by football fans all over the country. They were initially unconfident about him, but now they are seeing what he is truly made of. His spells at Darlington and Alfreton were a learning curve for Pickford. Darlington was a test which he passed with flying colours and Alfreton allowed him to blossom. They gave him the opportunity to show his ability, improve his performance, make the odd mistake and learn from them, and tackle criticism and abuse. They allowed Jordan Pickford to grow as a footballer and for that, we have non-league football to thank for nurturing one of the best young goalkeepers in the world.