Ryan Hardie made his Wrexham debut in the pre-season friendly against Melbourne Victory on Friday, marking it with a well-taken goal.
Wrexham beat Melbourne Victory 3-0 in their opening pre-season friendly on their tour of Australia, with goals coming from Thomas O’Connor, Ryan Hardie, and George Evans.
It makes for a positive start to the Wrexham Down Under Tour and Phil Parkinson will be delighted with such a positive start, and delighted to get things going ahead of next season.
And it was a positive debut all round for Hardie: Wrexham signed Hardie from Plymouth Argyle as their first signing of the summer, and he instantly showed his goal-scoring nous with a neat finish from close range in the second half.
Wrexham paid £700,000 to sign Hardie and it looks like a shrewd investment in a player who’s scored 22 Championship goals across the last two seasons combined.
Phil Parkinson pleased with Wrexham new boy Ryan Hardie after Melbourne Victory
Hardie is exactly the type of player Parkinson wants to sign this summer. He’s got good Championship experience and he didn’t break the bank either. And on Friday we got a glimpse into the kind of thing he can offer the side which is a real poacher up front, and someone who can be in the right positions in the right moments.
Speaking to the club after the game, Parkinson gave his verdict on Hardie’s debut, saying: “Ryan’s trained really well since he’s been here. Settled in well. I think the goal is typical of the goals he can score, movement in the opposition penalty box, timing of his run, and like all good goal-scorers getting those tap-ins in and around the six-yard box.”
Last season, Hardie scored 10 goals and assisted three more in 37 Championship games for Plymouth Argyle, who were eventually relegated to League One whilst Wrexham were promoted from it.
Is Ryan Hardie injured after Wrexham’s 3-0 win at Melbourne Victory?
Hardie came on at the break as Parkinson made a complete change to the Wrexham team that started against Melbourne Victory. But the 28-year-old didn’t make it to full-time, coming off right at the end after taking a knock to the head.
Speaking to the club, Parkinson ruled out any serious injury for the Scottish frontman. He said: “Looks like we’ve got everyone through injury-free. Obviously Ryan Hardie had a blow to the head and was a bit dizzy, but we had no need to risk him with four minutes to go.”
Good news for Wrexham and Parkinson then, that everyone has come through a tough opening pre-season game with no injuries. And it’s good for Hardie to get that first goal under his belt, albeit in a pre-season friendly.
It could give him confidence to score a few more this summer and take some form and momentum into Wrexham’s opening game of the season at Southampton, which promises to be a really challenging first game of the season for the Dragons.
Up next is a game against Sydney FC on the 15th.