DEFENDER Lee Baker has vowed to keep on attacking for Harriers after signing an 18-month contract with the club at the end of last week.

The 19-year-old, who joined on loan from West Bromwich Albion in August, had his contract at the Hawthorns cancelled in order for him to sign a permanent deal at Harriers.

“I was told by Tony Mowbray that they were not going to renew my contract at the end of the season, and was given several options,” said the defender.

“I could have stayed on loan at Harriers but after talking to the people at Albion and the gaffer at Harriers it was decided by everyone that it would be better to sign a deal.

“It won’t make a big difference to me on a day-to-day basis, I will come in and train with the lads and hopefully play regularly, but this deal gives me a lot more long-term security.”

Since joining the club at the start of the season, the Bromsgrove based full-back has become a first team regular, with attacking raids down the left wing a feature of his play.

“I like to get forward and will try and help in attack as much as I can,” added Baker.

“In modern football it’s important that full-backs support the attacks and it’s something I am working on.

“Saying that, I feel I defend as much as anyone and as a team we have kept a few clean sheets.

“I am still only young and learning with every game I play.

“Sometimes I play well and sometimes not so well but I won’t get carried away by either.”

The securing of a permanent deal at Aggborough is a sign that the defender has got his career back on track, after he suffered damage to his cruciate knee ligament in the summer of 2007.

The Redditch-born defender, who began playing with Kingfisher Colts as a kid before joining West Bromwich, showed single-minded determination to recover.

He was aided by Albion’s physios and some advice from fellow full-back Neil Clement.

Baker said: “I did my injury in the first week of training in the summer of 2007.

“It was really tough for me because there was the worry for me that I may never play again.

“These injuries are not as career threatening as they were once but it was still a worry for me.

“But all I could do was go into training and work with the physios at West Bromwich Albion, who were brilliant.

“It was hard because I missed training with my friends but I had some good advice from Neil Clement, who’s had a few injuries himself.

“He told me to stay focussed and I would come through it.”

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