Stephen Duke-McKenna leaves Harrogate Town to join St Johnstone on loan

The versatile attacker, who only joined the League Two Sulphurites from Championship Queens Park Rangers in the summer, will remain at McDiarmid Park until the end of the season.

Duke-McKenna, 24, has made 24 appearances for Town in all competitions during 2024/25, but nine of those have been as a substitute and he has been unable to nail down a starting berth.

Capable of operating on either wing or as a number 10, the Guyana international has barely featured for Harrogate since the January transfer window opened and manager Simon Weaver began to bring in reinforcements.

He was an unused substitute during January’s victories over Barrow and Cheltenham, and although there were brief cameos off the bench against Leeds United and Colchester, Duke-McKenna did not even make Town’s matchday squad for their three most recent League Two fixtures.

Thus, having evidently fallen down the pecking order, the skillful forward was given permission to speak to other clubs in a bid to secure himself regular football.

“As soon as I heard there was interest, I knew it was a big opportunity for me,” Duke-McKenna said upon joining St Johnstone.

“I was just buzzing to get up here to Perth. I spoke to the head coach and I wanted to get this done quickly so that I can get started right away.

“It is a new challenge for me. I want to test myself against the top talents in this league.”

Duke-McKenna made a superb start to life in North Yorkshire, netting the opening goal during the early minutes of his debut in a pre-season friendly defeat to Huddersfield.

But he was in and out of Weaver’s team during the early months of the campaign before enjoying a decent run of games between late October and the end of the year.

He managed just the one competitive goal for the Sulphurites, curling home a delicious free-kick during December’s 2-1 loss on the road at Grimsby

Duke-McKenna also contributed two assists from set-pieces, delivering the corner which Jack Muldoon nodded home to knock League One Wrexham out of the FA Cup at the first round stage, and a free-kick that Josh March glanced in at Fleetwood just before the turn of the year.