428 Nicky Adams

Position :  Winger

Played : 2008-09  ( on  loan  from  Leicester ) ; 2010-11  ( initially  on  loan  from  Brentford )  to  ?

Appearances :  ( first  spell )  14 ; ( second  spell )  28  to  date

Goals :  (first  spell)  1   (second  spell) 0 to  date

Nicky arrived at the end of January having been a target for some time. He came through Bury’s Centre of Excellence and scored on his debut in October 2005. He went on to make 77 appearances scoring 14 goals and winning Welsh under-21 caps. In July 2008 he went to Leicester for £100,000 but a spell out of the side opened the door for us to sign him.

Despite scoring on his debut away at Dagenham Nicky wasn’t all that impressive first time round. I remember remarking to someone at Darlington, “I can’t see a hundred grand’s worth of player there”. He could cross a ball and was useful at set plays but couldn’t beat a man and a lot of attacks petered out when he got the ball.

Nicky returned to Leicester and got a few more games in 2009-10 with Leicester now in the Championship. However he was loaned out again to Leyton Orient for a month in January 2010. He made another handful of appearances on his return to take his Leicester total to 30 without scoring then moved to Brentford in the summer.

After 7 games it wasn’t working out for him there and Nicky rejoined us on loan in October, the deal being made permanent in January this year. Nicky has improved somewhat since his first spell. He still can’t take his man on the outside but is sharper and a more consistent threat. He’s also developed a good understanding with Scott Wiseman on the right. He’s still only scored one goal in three seasons so that’s something he’ll have to put right this year.