Hartlepool United boss hoping to have absentee attacking-midfielder 'back in the building soon'
Hartlepool United manager Nicky Featherstone admits he's hoping to have Matty Daly "back in the building soon".
The 24-year-old, who has scored 3 goals in 29 games so far this season, missed Saturday's heavy defeat at home to relegation-threatened Aldershot Town due to personal reasons and the Pools boss suggested he was unlikely to be involved ahead of this weekend's trip to mid-table Tamworth.
While Daly has found himself in and out of the team in recent weeks, there was a sense that Pools would have liked to call on him last time out as they looked for a route back into the game against a Shots side who arrived at Victoria Park with one of the National League's worst defensive records. Other than Alex Reid's vociferous appeals for a penalty with around a quarter of an hour remaining - rather than point to the spot, referee Kavan Hurn booked the frustrated frontman for simulation - Pools never really looking like getting back into the contest and there was certainly a feeling that Daly might have been the man to come on and make a difference.
Indeed, the former Huddersfield man came off the bench to score a superb last minute winner against rivals Gateshead earlier in January and had shown one or two signs he was getting back to his best following an indifferent start to his second stint at Pools.
The attack-minded midfielder enjoyed a successful spell on loan at Victoria Park during the 2021/22 campaign, scoring seven goals in 27 appearances. Memorably, he scored five times in four Football League Trophy games as Pools reached the semi-finals, going within a whisker of securing what would have been a first ever visit to Wembley Stadium.
After stints on loan at Bradford, where he found the net once in nine matches, and Harrogate, bagging eight goals in 37 outings, Daly sealed a permanent move to the Sulphurites in May 2023. Although injuries hampered his progress to an extent in North Yorkshire, the creative-midfielder managed a further seven goals in 63 games and was generally held in high regard at Wetherby Road before completing a permanent return to Pools in the summer.
So far at least, Daly has struggled to make as much of an impact as he did during his first stint, with 11 of his 29 appearances coming from the bench. Despite showing flashes of quality, there is a sense among fans that they'd like to see Daly influence games more, particularly in the final third. Even so, his technical prowess, vision and range of passing means he looks set to be a significant miss for Pools over the coming weeks.
"Matty's a bit of a complex case, it's a family issue," Featherstone said.
"There's nothing I can go too much into on that one, but hopefully he'll be back in the building soon."