Hardy desperate for match action

Jan 19 2008 by Dougie Thomson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE postponement of Tuesday’s reserve match at Bradford did Aaron Hardy no favours.

The right-back is desperate for some match action as he tries to force his way back into the first-team frame.

While Frank Sinclair, Andy Holdsworth and Michael Collins have all filled the full-back slot, Hardy, who was hit by a nagging groin injury in November, has been left frustrated.

The 21-year-old figured in the final two Pontin’s Holidays League matches of 2007, but both scheduled games this month (the other was at Port Vale) have been called off.

Hardy is now hoping Wednesday’s home second-team fixture with Coventry goes ahead.

The South Elmsall-based player was also out injured when Andy Ritchie first arrived as manager last April, and was handed a six-month deal as an incentive to prove his worth.

In eight first-team appearances in the first two months of the campaign, including an impressive appearance as a stand-in centre-back in the 1-0 win at Bournemouth, he did enough to have that contract extended to the end of the season.

Now the challenge for a man who has made 19 first-team outings in all, is to earn fresh terms for 2008-09.