IT may have seemed an unremarkable evening of sport, but in fact it was one of the most remarkable. At Sheffield’s Don Valley Stadium last night, Matt Jansen made a goalscoring return to football.

The game was Rotherham United Reserves versus Huddersfield Town Reserves and the crowd was no doubt sparse, but it matters not.

With one deft header from six yards, the former Blackburn Rovers striker - on trial with Huddersfield - gave the clearest indication yet that an incredible comeback really could be on the cards.

Few would begrudge him it, for Jansen is one of football’s nice guys.

He is a hard man not to like, in a very different sense to the way Norman Hunter was also once regarded as a hard man not to like.

Jansen’s imagination and goalscoring flair during his days with Rovers gained admiration far beyond the confines of Ewood Park.

He would have been a popular choice in the England squad for the 2002 World Cup, a spot which he famously came so close to securing.

And few Rovers fans will ever forget the contribution that he – along with the likes of David Dunn and Damien Duff - made to the promotion campaign that has given the club a place in the elite for the past eight seasons.

The strike at Preston North End that secured the second automatic spot will forever remain iconic.

From there, his star grew and he became one of the Premier League's most impressive players until he was tragically cut down in his prime.

After the motorbike accident that left him out of football for so long, he did return but he was not the same - and he knew it. His confidence had been shattered.

To see such a gifted footballer retire in 2006 at the age of 28 was a terrible pity, so we must hope that this latest comeback proves successful.

Spells training with Carlisle United, and then Rovers at the end of 2008, were promising but did not develop beyond that.

But a trial at League One club Huddersfield - not one of his former teams - looks likely to be somewhat more substantial than simply a favour.

That he proved his goalscoring instincts are still intact during his first appearance for the reserves last night is even more encouraging.

Reports described Jansen, who also had two more opportunities to score during a 60-minute run-out, as ‘sharp and lively’.

Few people really know what chance he has of a genuine and sustained return to the Football League.

After two-and-a-half years out of the game, it represents a major challenge for the 31-year-old.

A revival of the heady days of yesteryear is almost certainly too much to ask.

But Rovers fans - and indeed football followers across the country - would take great pleasure if Jansen re-established himself as a professional and, at whatever level that might be, finished his career on a high.

He deserves nothing less.