Josh Coley’s return to Exeter City from Harrogate Town part of ‘chain reaction’

Josh Coley made his Harrogate Town debut during a 2-1 defeat at Sutton United on September 3. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

Simon Weaver says that Josh Coley’s Harrogate Town exit was part of a “chain reaction”.

The versatile attacking midfielder was recalled by parent club Exeter City on Tuesday, cutting short what was supposed to be a season-long loan with the League Two Sulphurites.

But the sale of forward Matt Jay to Colchester United and the impending departure of goal-scoring midfielder Timothee Dieng – who has subsequently joined Gillingham – prompted the the League One Grecians to exercise a clause in their loan agreement with Harrogate which enabled them to bring Coley back to Devon.

"It was a chain reaction, like it often is in situations like these,” Weaver told the Harrogate Advertiser.

Josh Coley in action for Harrogate Town against Stevenage.

"I know Exeter’s assistant manager and their loan manager pretty well and we’d been in conversation about Josh. They had a window in which to recall him and, because they lost a lad, they needed him to go back.

"It would have been nice to have kept him. We’d rather he had stayed with us, but listen, it doesn’t really matter what you want or what the player wants, if the parent club needs their player back then you have to accept their decision. Josh is their player and we completely respect that fact.

"And, I mean no disrespect whatsoever to Josh here, but we have managed to cope without him in a number of games since he’s been here and the forward positions are the not the problem area currently.

"We’d rather not have lost him, but with Luke Armstrong in great form, Dior Angus fit again, Sam Folarin getting better each week and Jack Muldoon someone who always does well for us, we do have good options in the final third.”

Coley, 24, joined Town on transfer deadline day at the end of August and went on to make 13 appearances for the club, six of which were starts.

He exits the EnviroVent Stadium having missed Town’s previous three matches with a groin injury, just as it looked as if he was starting to find a bit of form after netting an FA Cup goal at Hartlepool United then chipping in with an assist against Rochdale in his next game.

And Weaver feels that Coley was just starting to come into his own prior to aggravating a tight groin muscle during Boxing Day’s dramatic 3-2 win over Grimsby.

"I have really enjoyed working with Josh,” the Harrogate chief added.

"He had a great debut for us down at Sutton United and then there was the Salford game where he looked really lively.

"We were obviously searching for goals during the period when Josh came in and he had a spell out of the team. It was the Rochdale game when I feel as if he really found his true home in that number 10 role in the midfield diamond.

"That was one of the reasons why we changed formation, because it brought out the best in him, it freed him up and enabled him to really drive at defenders and influence the game.

"He was just unfortunate with the timing of the groin niggle that he picked up just as he was starting to deliver some really good performances.”

The departure of Coley, Jaheim Headley and Lewis Richards leaves Town with Huddersfield trio Matty Daly, Danny Grant and Josh Austerfield as their remaining loan options.