Why one Bolton Wanderers star will be happy Huddersfield Town won Wrexham transfer race | OneFootball

Ryan Hardie has gone to Huddersfield Town, which has opened the door for Mason Burstow to regain his form and his place

A move away from Wrexham was always on the cards for Hardie in the recent winter window, after making just six Championship appearances for Phil Parkinson's side so far this season, and a reunion with former Plymouth Argyle manager Steven Schumacher at Bolton made sense.

The Trotters have been firing blanks in front of goal for a few months now, and given the Bolton boss knows first hand what the 28-year-old Scot can do in League One for a title-winning side, many expected him to land at the Toughsheet Stadium.

In the end, FLW exclusively revealed that Huddersfield were plotting a swoop for the forgotten Wrexham man on deadline day, and, indeed, Hardie ended up on the other side of the pennines in West Yorkshire, with Bolton having to settle for Celtic loanee Johnny Kenny as their only striker addition of the window.

It was a real sickener for Bolton fans, but the blow can be softened if those who were firing at the start of the campaign can rediscover their form. And with Amario Cozier-Duberry out until late March at the earliest, the onus is on Hull City loanee Mason Burstow to lead the charge.

Mason Burstow may benefit from Ryan Hardie's loan decision

The decline of Burstow as the season has gone on has been a real head-scratcher for League One fans. In the opening couple of months of the campaign, he was unstoppable, but since October, he's been a shadow of his former self.

The 22-year-old former Chelsea man netted seven goals in his opening eleven games, including both against Peterborough United in a 2-1 win on October 4th.

That brace remains the last goals Burstow has scored in open play, with a late penalty against Leyton Orient in January being the only time he's found the back of the net in the last 19 League One outings.

During the last month, the Hull loanee has found himself in and out of the side, as Sam Dalby has emerged as a regular starter. While the 26-year-old has been a solid frontman, and has completed every game in the current five-game unbeaten run, the former Wrexham man wasn't really brought in to be the main striker option, and, understandably, Bolton were in the market for someone else.

They managed to get Kenny over the line, but with four goals in just eight Scottish Premiership starts, there's no confirming whether he'll be the main striker option. Whereas if Hardie came through the door, he'd have been nailed on to start most weeks under former boss Schumacher.

No deal was done, which leaves that starting spot wide open for the taking between now and the end of the season. Right now, it's Dalby's to lose, but Burstow should feel more confident about taking it from him than he would have done if Hardie had signed.

Mason Burstow needs to rediscover that early-season form to give Bolton Wanderers the best promotion chance

While Bolton are currently on a run of games where they've won four and drawn one, that run has been crafted from solid defensive numbers, and they haven't blown any of their opponents away during that time, winning every game by a one-goal margin.

Earlier in the campaign, while the likes of Burstow and Cozier-Duberry were in-form, Bolton were beating teams by two's, three's and four's on the regular.

As it stands, the last time they've won a league game by more than a single goal was way back on November 8, when they beat Port Vale 4-0 and Cozier-Duberry was involved in all four goals.

The Brighton loanee isn't likely to be seen until around April now, though, and Bolton's task in the interim will be to make sure that they're still there or threabouts in this promotion race so he can make one final splash upon his return in the final weeks of the campaign.

Controlling games in the midfield and having a strong backline can only get you so far though, and even with the additions of Rob Apter and Corey Blackett-Taylor out wide, Steven Schumacher's side still lacks that gamechanging x-factor through the middle.

Burstow has shown signs of possessing that earlier in the season, though, and Bolton may be relying on him to show that again in the coming months if they're to make good on their promotion push.