Accies ace Marley Redfern has revealed he’s put his short spell on the sidelines to good use by working on bulking up and trying to add goals to his game.
The 19-year-old from Wishaw suffered a hamstring strain during a 2-2 draw with Partick Thistle on January 8, but now he is back in contention for a starting slot after a return to fitness.
He has been working closely with gaffer Stuart Taylor, the club’s sports scientists and analysis teams to improve his all-round game in recent weeks, and hopes it will start to pay off in upcoming games.
Redfern, who made a late substitute appearance in a 0-0 draw with Raith on February 5 but wasn’t used in last midweek’s 2-2 draw at Arbroath, said: “I was out with my hamstring for three or four weeks, so we’ve been working really closely with the gaffer and the sports scientist team as well.
“I’ve been doing upper body stuff, trying to get bigger.
“I’m still young but I can still improve, so I’ve been working really hard on that side of things. Specific programmes with the sports scientists to build up.
“Goals is the thing we’ve been looking at as well, trying to set a target to boost my numbers.
“We are working with the analysis team closely and we are looking to improve that.
“Now I’m back, I’m looking to help the team out. It would be good for me to get that [goals] but if I can help the team out with assists as well, hopefully we can push up the table as much as possible.”
Redfern spent most of last season out on loan at Blackburn United in the East of Scotland League, making just one Accies outing in the final game of last season - a 2-0 defeat at home to Kilmarnock that confirmed relegation to the Championship.
However, the midfielder has been a mainstay in Taylor’s team this term, making an impressive 26 appearances despite his injury concerns.
Redfern added: “This is my first year playing at this level.
“Last year I was out on loan and then with the circumstances of the team fighting relegation at the end of last season I wasn’t really involved that much.
“But this year has been massive for me so far and hopefully myself and the team have a good, strong end to the season and we push as hard as we can.”
Gaffer Stuart Taylor has been thoroughly impressed with the strides Redfern has made this term, although he does admit he has overplayed the youngster at times.
He said of Redfern: "He's got great attributes for a young kid, with how fit he is, how quick he is, how well he runs with the ball.
"He's picked up the demands of how we want to play really well, hence why his performances have been so good this season.
"A big part of my belief is playing young players, but it's also how you play them as well.
"I've already held my hands up to Marley and said I've probably played him more than what he was probably ready to at times.
"But the mentality he has is one you want, where he keeps going. He didn't hold his hands up and say 'oh, I'm tired', he kept going.
"We probably pushed him just a little too far when he got injured in the Partick Thistle game.
"But we've spoken about his next part of his development, which is being physically stronger, and that [injury] was a good point for him to go to the gym and build himself up.
"We've given him a challenge now for the next part of his development.
"Every day he's genuinely looking to get better. He asks questions and you see him working on his game after training, but there's a lot of kids like that here as well, which is great."
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