NEALE Cooper is ready to allow Adam Boyd to leave Hartlepool United - in the hope of the striker getting back to top form.

Boyd started the season well, scoring four times in his first seven games in League One, but his last goal - a penalty - came in mid-October and he has been out of the first-team picture of late.

He started Cooper's first game in charge, against Scunthorpe on January 2, but has not kicked a first-team ball since as injury, illness and form have kept him out.

Now, in a bid to get Boyd primed for the final games of the season, Cooper is happy to encourage interest in the 29-year-old - and the striker is keen to temporarily get away from his home-town club.

A loan move to Darlington last month failed to materialise and Cooper admitted: "Adam is a difficult one, he needs to play football and came to see me about going out on loan to get matches. We are fine about it, he said he might benefit for it and he is available to go out.

"But while he is here he is a big part of the squad, I think the world of Adam. He needs to get sharper, play games and it's good that he asked to go out and get matches.

"You have to have people who want him and it's not happening for him. He is training away, doing extra, and a fully-fit Adam Boyd is a major asset to us.''

Cooper has witnessed the benefits of Boyd leaving on loan in the past. In 2004, he sent the player to Boston. He impressed there, but no deal happened and he returned to Pools and found the form of his life, scoring 12 goals in ten games to fire Pools into the play-off zone.

Boyd has 78 goals for the club, ninth in the all-time list, a single strike behind Joe Allon and Tommy McGuigan.

He is out of contract this summer, after Pools took up an option on his current deal last year.

Cooper said: "Adam went out on loan before, came back and started his career again. It's frustrating for him, I think the world of him as a boy and a player and he come to me admitting it's better if he gets games - and I agree.

"He went to Boston and came back a different boy. Hopefully someone wants him, he's a good footballer.''

And even if there is no loan move, Cooper hasn't ruled out including him in his squad in the coming weeks.

"He was in the squad the other night at Preston, but I didn't want to change it,'' said the manager. "He is part of the plans, both Adam and Nathan (Luscombe). Sometimes you just take 16, but as a squad you want everyone involved. He's not out of the picture.

"He had his knee flushed out and missed training with a viral infection. It all adds up and the weather restricts games as well.

"He's got to keep fighting for a place. Buster (Gallagher, physio) said he came back in the summer different class and maybe he has to do a wee bit of that again. He is natural, a quality and still there and thereabouts. The opportunity is there for him and needs that wee bit of sharpness that matches give you.''