Fleetwood Town loanee Harvey Saunders set for knee scan with Hartlepool United hopeful of striker's return in time for play-offs

The Fleetwood Town loan striker, 23, started in the defeats against Bromley and Maidenhead United but didn’t make the journey with the squad down to Hampshire over the weekend.

Fleetwood will take charge of Saunders’ recovery from injury with Pools hoping he’ll be back in time to continue the National League promotion push at Sutton this weekend.

"He’s going for a scan,” Hartlepool manager Dave Challinor told The Mail. “We don’t think it’s anything serious but we’ll just tick a box from the player’s perspective.

"Fleetwood will look after him from that point of view but we’re hoping he’ll be back. It’s a tweak, a medial ligament sort of pain.

"The nature of it doesn’t suggest it’s anything serious but it’s best to clear that up and hopefully he’ll be fine for us next week and if not next week then certainly the week after.”

Saunders is Hartlepool’s only notable injury concern following the weekend’s results with an update on the forward’s condition expected later in the week.

Pools travel to face Sutton United live on BT Sport this Sunday (12:45pm kick-off). They currently sit fourth in the table with two games remaining while The U’s could potentially win the league title this weekend should results go their way.

A top five play-off place is guaranteed for Pools but they are still looking to break into the top three ahead of Stockport County and secure a home play-off semi-final at Victoria Park on Sunday, June 13.

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