Quakers' leading goalscorer - a centre-half selected as a makeshift forward - is not ready to stop just yet

HE is the archetypal centre-half, a grisly defender from the old the mould with a sideline in hostility towards referees and six games into the season Alan White is also Darlington’s leading scorer. Nobody saw this coming, least of all his team-mates.

“They were on about it in the changing room after the game and having a laugh,” he said, having scored the winner against Blyth Spartans on Monday. “I said it’s nothing to be laughing about, you lot should be ashamed of yourselves and having a good look in the mirror!”

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Two days earlier he’d scored two headers when handed a shock start as a striker away to Colwyn Bay, and against Blyth executed a neat finish with his weaker left foot from 16 yards to give Darlington a fine 2-1 win.

Now on three goals for the season, he added: “I didn’t have too much time to think about it. If I have too much time when the ball’s at my feet then that’s when I can get in trouble.

“I was quite happy with the finish, a little lefty. Fox in the box, in the right place at the right time.”

The celebration? “Alan Shearer, one hand in the air,” he explained. “It wasn’t planned, I just prefer it when you go still, no emotion, no back-flips.”

It was a remarkable moment for White and the club’s supporters, many of whom regard the Darlington-born 39-year-old as something of a local hero.

He enjoyed a long career in the professional game that began at Middlesbrough in the mid-1990s and took in stays of varying lengths at Luton, Colchester, Orient and others before finally being brought to his hometown team by Dave Penney in 2007. After two years he moved back to Luton, but returned to Quakers 2013 and is closing in on his 200th appearance for the club.

The reality, however, is that White is no longer first-choice at the heart of defence. His place has been taken by summer signing Kevin Burgess, and he was chosen as a makeshift striker due to the unavailability of others. He will be back on the bench today for the trip to Halesowen.

The clock is ticking. He turned 39 in March and some friends have suggested that next year he could play over-40s football, but the suggestion is met unenthusiastically.

“It wouldn’t be highly-competitive and if it’s more relaxed and people playing for fun then it’s not for me,” he says. “If I’m playing football I want to be doing it properly, I don’t want to be playing with lads that have got fat bellies.

“I don’t play football because it’s fun – I love the game, but I play to win at the highest standard that I can manage.”

Anyone who has watched White, or been a team-mate – and there’s been plenty of them – will not be surprised by his take on the prospect of playing football for fun.

“I’ll just keep going,” he added. “Obviously I’m not as quick as I was when I was in my 20s, but I’m as fit as I’ve ever been and I haven’t got an ounce on me. I feel, at this level and the one above, because I played in that a year or two back, I can keep playing as long as I stay injury free.

“I’ve always been quite lucky with injuries, so I’ve always known that I could play until I was quite old as long as I was playing okay.

“The last time I was in full-time football was at Gateshead and before that Luton Town, after that you’re part-time and you’ve got to train on your own. I’ve never been one for the gym, I like training, playing football and running around, that’s how I get my fitness and doing it on your own is difficult. I’m a fitness instructor now and it’s helped keep me fit.

“I can understand why some lads pack in. I haven’t got a Mrs or kids so my personal circumstances are different, I can dedicate my weekends and Tuesday and Thursday evenings to football, but a lot of lads get to a certain age and say ‘this is hindering my family life’, which I can understand. Or they might fall out of love with the game, or have a few injuries which get the better of them.”

His last game for a full-time level was in January 2011, while on loan from Luton to Gateshead, and he’s since done the rounds in non-league.

“I know some people struggle with dropping out of it, but I never did,” he says. “You know it’s going to come one day. The longer you can put it off the better, but because it happened naturally to me, purely because of age, I was ready for it and it was time to head in another direction.

“It must be difficult for younger lads who’ve dropped out at 26 or 27 when they’ve still got something to offer, but I was nearly 36 when I came out of full-time football and I’d known a couple of years previously that I was on borrowed time.

“It was lovely to have the opportunity to play part-time at place like Harrogate Town, Stalybridge and then Darlington.

“You miss the day-to-day team spirit a bit, the sense of humour and camaraderie. When that stops something is missing because you can’t replace it.”

Being engaged in the daily machinations of full-time football firmly behind him, White’s now a fitness instructor at Headlam Hall, a hotel close to Scotch Corner, while he also runs Metafit classes. It all helps, he says, keep him fit for football.

The Metafit classes are at Hummersknott School, Darlington, on Wednesday and Friday evenings, and White is keen to invite interested people along.

He explained: “I thought it would be a good idea to put some on to see what people think. It’s going well and hopefully it’ll pick up. At this time of year everyone wants to be outdoors.

“As a team we sometimes train once a week, but that’s not enough. At least I’m jumping around doing aqua-aerobics and different classes, plus Metafit as well as playing football. It keeps me in good nick.”

It’s the lack of forwards being in good nick that led to manager Martin Gray putting White up front, and while he’s taken to it like a natural born finisher he is fully aware that it is only a short-term measure.

He said: “I’ve never in my life played up front, first time I’ve done it for anyone, including at school.

“I was surprised when Martin asked me. We had different options, but that’s why Martin’s the manager, he has decisions to make. Against Colwyn Bay I could’ve made a fool of myself, but he gave me the right instructions, do it simple, don’t try and overdo it and give the ball to better players and then get into the box.

“I don’t think anybody saw it coming. Everyone assumed, if he was going to rest Graeme Armstrong at Colwyn Bay, that it would be David Dowson up front, or maybe change the formation.

“With Graeme not being fully fit and Adam Nowakowski being injured, we’re lacking a presence up front alongside Nathan Cartman, a fella who can flick it on. On Saturday he said go up there and be a nuisance, win headers and get into the box.

“The lads put some great crosses in, so anyone could’ve scored them, but it’s not ideal and I don’t think it’s a long-term thing.”

White’s days as an auxiliary forward might not be long-term, but his days as a footballer have been exactly that.