Former Chesterfield and Northampton forward Colin Larkin signed for Pools in the summer of 2009 after scoring in a pre-season friendly at Mansfield. Scoring was not a word that would be associated much with the player for the rest of his time at Pools. After clipping a lovely goal against Walsall in September 2009 it would be eighteen months before he notched his second (and third) against the same opposition. Despite being in and out of the team, and spending a fair bit of time playing on the right of midfield, it was still a scarcely credible drought for an attacking player. His jubilant celebration when finally ending that drought showed how much it had meant to him. His delight was shared by most of the travelling supporters that afternoon, who recognised the efforts of a player who never stopped giving his all even though things were clearly not going well for him.Larkin scored again against Yeovil a couple of weeks later, but that would be as good as it got. The 2011/12 season was a near write-off, with injury ending his campaign before the first month was out. His release in the summer of 2012 was no surprise.