Hartlepool United boss Darren Sarll feels goalkeeper Brad Young has been "ok" since breaking into Pools side

The 22-year-old returned to his boyhood club at the end of August but had to be patient before Sarll handed him his first start almost a month later.

Young came through the ranks at Pools, signing his first professional contract in 2019 before catching the attention of the Premier League outfit, who lured him to the East Midlands.

He's impressed while progressing through the ranks at the King Power Stadium but has still to make a first team appearance for the Foxes and has limited senior experience.

Young had a brief stint on loan at Notts County but didn't play a game while he spent time at Blyth Spartans during his first spell at Pools.

Sarll had been on the hunt for a new goalkeeper all summer and, while he added experienced stopper Adam Smith to his ranks a week before the new season started, a loan move for Young seemed to make perfect sense for all parties.

The highly-rated stopper has had to bide his time but looks to have established himself as Sarll's new number one, with Joel Dixon sidelined with a long-term injury and Smith replacing Paul Woolston as the club's goalkeeping coach.

Young impressed on his debut at Forest Green but shipped three goals on his first home start against Sutton.

However, he announced himself to home supporters during Saturday's FA Cup tie with Brackley, keeping his side in the contest with a sharp save to deny Morgan Roberts in the first half before getting Tom Parkes out of trouble after the break when he took decisive action to deal with the defender's mishit back-pass.

That's doubtless a sense that there's more to come from Young but the signs are good and Pools fans will be hoping their recent issues in-between the sticks - Sarll has used three different goalkeepers in the first 14 games of the campaign - are now put to bed.

And while the Pools boss has liked some of what he's seen from his new recruit, he provided a measured assessment of the goalkeeper's progress so far.

"He's done ok," he said.

"I'm very balanced on that one.

"I thought he was wonderful in the second half against Sutton but I didn't think he was great in the first half.

"His distribution needs some refining but he'll get that as he plays with the players more. How certain players need to receive the ball, how certain players don't need to receive the ball, that's just learning about your teammates.

"He's done ok, he's done ok."