Gary Liddle has this message for Hartlepool United squad ahead of Crawley Town opener

Pools host Crawley Town at The Vic on Saturday in a 3pm League Two fixture, their first Football League game in four years.

The ground will be packed with supporters all eager to see Pools get off to the best possible start.

But it has been a tricky pre-season for the Pools squad given how little time they have had to prepare between winning promotion and the return to training.

Experienced campaigner Liddle, however, says there are no excuses.

"You would always like a bit of extra time to prepare, I’m not going to lie,” said Liddle.

“But it’s no excuse because we’ve been looked after and we haven’t been worked as hard as the lads who didn’t play for us down at Bristol.

"We wouldn’t have had it any other way and we’ll look back at the games and where we need to change.

“We’re still definitely looking forward to the new season. We’re on the back of a very good season and an unexpected season in terms of the promotion so we should be going into it full of confidence.

"There are no points at stake in pre-season which is a bonus but at the same time, we’ll look at the negatives because there’s a lot to work on.”

Liddle, who signed a new one-year deal in the summer, made his second spell for Pools permanent at the beginning of last season after enjoying a short loan spell from Walsall.

Boss Dave Challinor has previously stressed how important it was to tie Liddle down to a new deal.

He added: “He has played a significant role at this club for many years now and was certainly key to our success last season.”

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