Dave Challinor discusses how new January arrivals have settled in at Hartlepool United and what they've learned so far

The Pools boss brought in Aidan Keena, Macauley Southam-Hales, Timi Odusina and Rob Harker in January while also extending the short-term loan deals of Gary Liddle and Mark Shelton until the end of the season.

And Challinor feels the hospitable nature of his squad has enabled the new arrivals to embed themselves quickly.

“It’s an easy group to settle into and it probably helps when there are quite a few new faces coming in quickly because there are more in the same boat,” he admitted.

“The lads have come in and played games and there has been a good atmosphere around the place which has been helped by some decent results.

“Winning matches is the be all and end all really because that breeds confidence and everyone enjoys coming into training and showing what they can do on a Saturday.”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the new arrivals as they found out during last weekend’s 2-1 defeat at Barnet.

“Our defending cost us the game [against Barnet] and hopefully they will learn from that, especially the younger ones and the lads who have come in,” Challinor added.

“It was difficult for Timi and Macca last week but they can take something, probably more from that defeat than they would have from the win against Stockport. It’s been a good eye opener for them as to where they’re at and where we need to improve.”