Ex-Rangers striker Ryan Hardie is still part of Blackpool's plans despite joining Plymouth Argyle on loan

It comes after the 22-year-old netted on his debut for Plymouth Argyle at the weekend having joined the League Two side on loan until the end of the season.

The Scot, who signed for the Seasiders during the summer from Rangers, has struggled for regular game-time at Bloomfield Road this season - scoring just once in 12 outings.

But Grayson is hopeful the forward can benefit from his time at Home Park and come back a better player.

He said: “I still think Ryan has a good future at this football club but it reached the point that the lad needed to go and play regular first-team football.

“At this moment in time his pathway is blocked by other people here. But it’s not because we don’t rate Ryan.

"Has he set the world alight in training and in the games when he has had opportunities? Probably not. But there’s still a player there who we think is good.

“He’s now got a good opportunity to go and play 15-20 games at Plymouth, get some goals and we’ll certainly be watching him all the time.

“I saw his goal at the weekend and it’s a great goal. We’ve seen that at times in training, but what we haven’t seen on a regular basis is him doing that enough.

“I get that players do play better when they have five or six games on a run where they have more confidence.

“But there haven’t been too many players in the forward department that have had the opportunity to go and play five or six games, because the majority of the time Armand (Gnanduillet) has been playing and Liam Feeney has been playing on the right because of their form.

“It’s only been bit-part for Ryan and Joe Nuttall as well, because he’s not really had a run of five or six games where you can see his true potential.

“We just felt it was a good opportunity for Ryan to go and get some game-time, but he’s still part of our plans.”