Pools goal-getter Niko Muir hopes his supermarket days are long gone - even if his Sainsbury's boss wants him back!

But never mind the aisles of the supermarket, striker Muir only has eyes for driving Hartlepool United up the National League conveyor belt.

Muir failed to hit the net at Dagenham on Saturday, his second game without a goal. But he’s keen to get back on the goals trail against Chesterfield this afternoon, which will be just what Matthew Bates wants to hear.

The last thing on his mind is going back to the 5am alarm calls and graft of a supermarket warehouse, a disappointment, no doubt, to his former boss.

“I speak to my manager. He was seeing how I was getting on,” said Muir of a phone call between the pair last week.

“Some of my mates ring me and we have some general talk.

“My manager asked me if I was coming back? I said no.

“I only want to keep improving at Pools. I hope those days are long gone. It did teach me valuable lessons about life, though, and keeps me grounded.”

Muir might have come from the Isthmian League, but he never had any doubts he’d hit the ground running.

“Every season I go in thinking I am going to score goals here,” he said.

“You have to be confident.

“I am a striker. Every game I have to think I am going to score. That’s what you have to do.”