Blues manager Kieran McKenna was pleased to see forward Nathan Broadhead get his first minutes for Town this season as a sub at Nottingham Forest on Saturday.

Broadhead, 26, suffered a hamstring injury in the first week of pre-season training which kept him out of action until he made his first appearance for the season as a second-half sub for Wales in their 1-0 Nations League victory over Montenegro in October.

The former Everton man was included in the Welsh squad for their November games but pulled out having suffered another setback, a groin injury.

But the Bangor-born forward was able to take a place on the bench at the City Ground and put in a positive cameo having come on in the number 10 role after 79 minutes.

McKenna was asked how important Broadhead, who bagged 13 goals for the Blues last season, could be this season.

“Hopefully, he will be,” the Town manager said. “He's a talented player, he can score and create goals and you certainly can't have too much of that in the squad in our position.

“Of course, like all the other players, he has to show that he can step up and do that in the Premier League and he's training hard to get the opportunities to do that. It's nice for him to get some minutes on the pitch on Saturday.

“Hopefully, he can stay injury free for a good period of time now, especially through this winter game period.

“I'm sure if he does, then there will be moments where he gets his chance to step up. And we believe that he's got the quality to deliver for us in moments, and hopefully he can show that.”

Photo: Matchday Images

TimmyH added 16:57 - Dec 2 Got a feeling we're going to see a couple or so changes tomorrow, Broadhead I believe will be one of them.
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billlm added 19:38 - Dec 2 The only good thing about Saturday, Looked pretty sharp
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BuckieBlue added 21:31 - Dec 2 NB scored some 'clever' goals for us last season; hopefully he'll prove that he has the quality to be make a notable contribution to our squad at this level. I'm quietly confident he has.
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algarvefan added 22:05 - Dec 2 Broadhead has quality and is a clever quick thinking forward that we need right now. Should be a starter tomorrow night.
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Eeyore added 22:13 - Dec 2 Looked good when he came on.
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bobble added 11:49 - Dec 3 Like hirst he spends a lot of the season injured....
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Monkey_Blue added 12:52 - Dec 3 It’s good to see him on the bench. I still think we lack a bit of wow factor for the last 25/30 mins and Broadhead was that if he wasn’t starting before this season… let’s hope he can still be and also be pushing Clarke & Sammie for that left sided position. Having said that Chaplin looks better every time he plays so why can’t he? Still think we need some match winner/turning quality in jan.

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