Aston Villa loanee showing how he can replace Louie Barry at Stockport County: View | OneFootball

Rico Richards has sparked into life for Stockport County, showing glimpses of how he could replace what has been missing since the injury to Louie Barry.

After a few short and quiet cameos for County, the young forward appeared to come somewhat out of his shell when given 45 minutes against Salford City and followed it up with another impressive performance against Crawley Town.

His ability to progress forward with the ball at his feet and beat defenders was a highly-valued trait that Barry, his on-loan Villa teammate, provided before his injury, and Richards has shown he may have what it takes to plug that gap.

Barry is due to return to Edgeley Park before the end of the season, recovery permitting, but as yet there is no confirmed date for his return.

Aside from a couple of short substitute appearances for West Brom before his Villa move, Richards’ game time at County represents some of his first strides into senior football.

It is understandable, therefore, that the first couple of times he pulled on the blue and white shirt it took him some time to adjust and get himself into the game.

Manager Dave Challinor commented on the 20-year-old’s relative shyness and that was somewhat coming through on the pitch in those admittedly short early cameos, perhaps not showing for the ball at every opportunity or not getting himself into optimal positions.

Speaking to club media following the Salford game, where Richards played the full second half, the manager said: “Rico knows what he needs to do. Technically, he’s a brilliant footballer; can go either side and can produce moments of quality, and we’ve seen that throughout training.

“He’s a really, really quiet lad. By no means arrogant, and at times probably not confident, but with the ability he’s got he should absolutely be that.”

However, given longer to grow into games over the past week, Richards has shown his true potential and appears to have built the confidence to put his natural ability to use, something that is bound only to improve as he keeps collecting positive performances.

He could add the missing ingredient lost through Louie Barry

At times this season, County's build-up play has become formulaic. Often a game will descend into getting the ball up to target man Kyle Wootton to hold up, and then relying on him to bring others into play.

It's a tactic that has worked, and one that the players are capable of playing, but it often becomes predictable and opposition defenders often double-up on Wootton and almost manhandle him out of the game.

While Wootton was injured, and Barry was leading the line with Tanto Olaofe, it forced County to change their approach and many of the goals in the Hatters' winning streak earlier in the season came through the Villa starlet's ability to drive towards the byline and into the box, creating space for himself or a teammate to get a shot off at goal.

As Richards' confidence grows, he looks more than capable of fulfilling this role.

In his two longest appearances by some distance, against Salford and Crawley - playing 45 and 62 minutes respectively - he completed the most dribbles in both games, with five against Salford and three against Crawley.

In the previous game, against Newport County where Richards was only on the pitch for the final minute, the entire County squad only managed to complete four successful dribbles, showing the difference in approach a confident Richards can bring.

Richards could be vital for the run-in, in more ways than one

Another striking, and quite unexpected, feature of Richards' recent appearances is his ability and desire to get stuck in and help out with the defensive work when necessary.

On multiple occasions, particularly against Crawley, the young Villa man's counter-press when he had lost the ball trying to progress the play was impressive, as was his ability and desire to track runners and win the ball back before the Crawley wide men could spring a cross into the box.

That sort of commitment and drive is exactly what Challinor will want in his squad as the team enters a tough, and tightly-contested, League Two run-in.

According to an interview conducted with the club earlier this year, Barry projected that he should now be back in training, but with a muscle injury each case can be different, and it remains to be seen whether he can return to full fitness in time for the end of the season, and whether he returns to the same form.

Until that point, it appears that County may have their answer to the directness lost through Barry in Richards, along with additional defensive qualities that will be required in tense end-of-season battles that are bound to require the Hatters to dig in deep.

The past week looks to have built the self-belief of the young starlet. It will now be hoped at Edgeley Park that his newfound confidence, coupled with his natural ability, can be the spark to finish the season as strongly as it was kicked off by his Villa teammate Barry.