Swindon Town should offer Harry McKirdy a lifeline: Opinion | OneFootball

Swindon Town's lack of a natural goalscorer in the first half of the recent League Two campaign without doubt affected their prolificacy in front of goal - and new boss Michael Flynn will surely be looking to remedy that over the summer months.

The Robins finished in the play-offs in the 2021/22 season, but fell foul on penalties to a rugged Port Vale side in the semi-finals; with the Midlands-based side eventually earning themselves promotion with an impressive 3-0 win over Mansfield Town at Wembley just weeks later.

It simply wasn't to be a fairlytale ending for then-Robins boss Ben Garner, but with 21 goal-star Harry McKirdy firing away alongside 13 goals being scored from central midfield in the form of Jack Payne, putting the ball in the back of the net wasn't the problem for the Wiltshire-based outfit.

But then disaster struck.

McKirdy left in the last few minutes of the summer transfer deadline for Scottish Premiership side Hibernian to work alongside former Bristol City boss Lee Johnson, and when Garner left for Charlton Athletic's hot seat, he took Payne with him.

Excluding loanees, Swindon's next top scorer fell in the former of injury-prone Welshman Jonny Williams - and all of a sudden, the landscape had changed at the County Ground.

McKirdy massively missed

Fast forward to the end of the current campaign, and the stats don't read quite so well.

Williams finished as top scorer with 10 goals, whilst winter signing and Robins legend Charlie Austin notched nine goals, though a quartet of those came in one game against relegated Rochdale.

There is a serious lack of a talisman at the former Premier League outfit, and a younger, enigmatic striker will be needed if Flynn is to galvanise his side ahead of the new campaign. And, if all the stars align, fans of the Robins could see former favourite McKirdy return.

Hibs horror show

Big things were expected of the wild-haired Englishman upon his move north of the border, but 20 games have passed him by in the Scottish capital - with no goals or assists to show for himself.

630 minutes of football is also not enough game time for the attacker to develop, especially one who was voted into League Two's Team of the Season last time out.

And even without his sub-par performances at Easter Road, McKirdy had hinted that he wished to move back to Swindon following a poor start to life under Johnson.

A fan had tagged McKirdy's Instagram in a comment on Swindon Town's profile back in October, after the striker had liked a post after the club had beaten Mansfield 5-2.

The supporter said: "Time to come back @harrymckirdy," leading the fan favourite to like his reply and spark frenzy for the side in green and white.

Game time obviously isn't coming up trumps for McKirdy at Hibs.

With Kevin Nisbet firing away after a potential Millwall move broke down in the winter, alongside loanee forward Elie Youan signing permanently earlier this week, it appears that chances for McKirdy are becoming even more estranged and that the ship may just have sailed for him in terms of seizing his chance.

He is adored at Swindon, and with Austin and Williams coming to the ends of their careers yet also being the top scorers, it could work incredibly well in the Robins' favour for a young, exciting strike to carry the baton.