NEAL Ardley explained Barnsley’s decision to recall York City loanee Aiden Marsh during the week, despite the young striker only extending his month-long loan deal just over two weeks ago.

Marsh made seven appearances for York in his time with the club, but struggled with injuries and failed to register a goal whilst on loan.

Barnsley made the decision to recall Marsh following their surprise 3-3 draw with Horsham in the Emirates FA Cup, with Marsh likely to feature in the Tykes’ replay next week.

Ardley thanked Barnsley for their co-operation in the deal, and hopes that City can build a relationship with the Sky Bet League One side with his eyes now turning to other striker targets.

“Marshy is a young lad. Barnsley did a great deal for us. We brought him in for his legs and his energy and to give us support for our strikers,” Ardley explained.

“Having two strikers isn’t the way I like to roll. I actually like to have four and to get two to run themselves into the ground.

“At the top of the list is that we’d like to add a left-back, but we’d like to add some firepower to our team.

“To add creative players to our team, that’s the top of our list.

“It happened on the Monday. He was training with us on Monday and I got a message.

“He was injured at the weekend and we actually had permission to play him, but he got injured and had clashed knees with the goalie in training.

“I then got a call on Monday saying they were calling him back, they had someone on international duty and had a cup replay, so it made sense for them if he wasn’t cup tied to call him back and have the bodies.

“He’s their player and we’ve got a good relationship with the club, so we thank them for letting us have him for the time we did.”