Forest Green Rovers boss Jim Harvey was delighted to see John Hardiker return to the side against Northwich Victoria.

Hardiker scored twice in the 3-0 win that saw Rovers climb out of the drop zone, but it was his presence at the heart of defence that lifted Harvey.

And Harvey revealed Hardiker's fellow centre-back Darren Jones is also close to a return to the first-team ranks.

"You can see how good John is, as is Darren who isn't far from coming back," he told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"Hardiker and Jones were our two main centre-halves and if we're looking at our season so far they've only played 10 or 11 games out of the 36 or 37 that we've played.

"That's where most of our problems have come from, conceding goals."

While praising the contributions of Lee Ayres and Matthew Preece in recent weeks, Harvey will hope Hardiker and Jones, who could return at the weekend against Stevenage, can add some steel to defence in the fight against relegation.

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