Paul Mullin’s suspension is over and it’s hard to imagine Phil Parkinson not starting him against Aldershot. However, he has been given food for thought during Mullin’s four game absence. 

We saw something new in attack while Mullen was unavailable, and it had its merits. Most strikingly, Dan Jarvis returned to show he has a part to play in the closing stages of the season. 

It’s a cliché, of course, to talk about a player coming back from injury being like a new signing. With the unfair restrictions of the transfer window applying only to us in the National League, we need to take advantage of any fresh legs we can find, and Jarvis looks like he fits the bill. 

His time at Wrexham has been peculiar. When Dean Keates brought him in he looked sensational, his technique clearly superior to that of the players around him. When paired with Davis Keillor-Dunn as the two attacking points in a box midfield, he opened games up in fabulously decisive fashion. 

Keillor-Dunn’s unexpected decision to move on was a blow to the club, and didn’t do Jarvis any favours either. Suddenly the player who was most obviously on his wavelength was gone. 

Of course Jarvis didn’t rely on Keillor-Dunn, but the way they could combine – remember how they dismantled Bromley? – certainly helped him. 

Last season, his first full campaign with the club, was a frustrating one. He showed real quality in bursts, and avoided injury, but never really seemed to figure in Keates’ first eleven. He was in the sixteen for 31 of the last 33 games of the season, but didn’t leave the bench in 12 of them and only started 9 times.

This season has been a continuation of that frustration, and it seemed Parkinson didn’t see him as part of his plans. After all, he gave Devonte Redmond a chance to play in the attacking midfield role before Jarvis, which says it all! Redmond’s time at The Racecourse has been unhappy, yet Jarvis was behind him in the queue. 

But Jarvis has kept a smile on his face. Indeed, his chirpy manner has been a real positive. Matchday photographs constantly show him joking around or chatting with fans. He is clearly a good man to have around the club, and he’s even leading the fantasy league competition I arrange for Calon FM’s Dragonheart programme! 

Jarvis might have had a chance to impose himself on Parkinson‘s thoughts in November, when a couple of nice cameos off the bench and a good performance in the 5-0 trouncing of Aldershot catapulted him up the pecking order. 

Sadly, his chances of taking advantage of this opportunity was scuppered when Bromley’s Liam Trotter smashed into him. The result was a red card for Trotter and a long layoff for Jarvis. Yet he has returned during Mullin’s suspension and looks extremely impressive. His presence has forced a change to Parkinson’s usual formation, essentially playing three at the back and then a diamond in midfield, with Jarvis at the sharp end supporting Ollie Palmer. 

Jarvis roams and creates space for others, most gloriously against Borehamwood when he made space for Jordan Davies to score a fabulous goal. Both Davies and Young revelled in the chance to break into the gaps that Jarvis created.

At Wealdstone, Jarvis was a touch more direct in his threat, spending more time as a second striker. He made some nice runs into the channels, and only alert goalkeeping denied him from latching onto Palmer’s flick-ons. 

Jarvis is an exciting new factor in our promotion posh. However, now Mullin’s back, surely the Jarvis role disappears? After all, we brought in Mullen and Palmer to be the dynamic striking partnership who drive us to promotion. 

Jarvis is not a natural fit for a deeper central midfield role, and the arrival of Tom O’Connor has meant competition for those spaces is even greater. After all, James Jones is now struggling to get onto the bench, having arrived from League One. However, Jarvis has shown that he has something important to offer as the season goes on. It’ll be fun seeing just how that manifests itself.