Hartlepool United chairman Raj Singh comments following loan signing of former Middlesbrough and Birmingham City striker Luke Armstrong

Pools have been busy in the transfer market over the past week with the signings of Joe Bunney and Armstrong as Dave Challinor looks to turn around his side’s stuttering league form.

Hartlepool have won just one of their last eight National League matches and have found goals hard to come by after failing to score in five of their previous seven matches ahead of Tuesday night’s game at home to King’s Lynn Town (7pm kick-off).

Midfielder Gavan Holohan and defender Ryan Johnson are the only Pools players to have scored more than once in the league with three and two goals respectively.

So the arrival of an EFL striker with a history of scoring goals in non-league football could prove to be a timely one.

The Salford forward has agreed to stay at Pools for the remainder of the 2020-21 season.

“We are really pleased to get in the last week Joe Bunney and Luke Armstrong,” Singh told the club website.

"Joe has been brought in to give us cover over the busy period of Christmas and New Year.

“It has been obvious that we need goals and Dave has been looking for a while to bring someone in and we have really pushed the boat out to get Luke in.”

This season has seen significant budget cuts at Hartlepool with Challinor working with a considerably reduced playing budget compared to previous seasons largely due to the financial pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Behind the scenes, the club are relying heavily on volunteers as the result of several redundancies made during lockdown.

But Pools fans have continued to invest in the club by purchasing season tickets, replica shirts, live streams and contributing to a budget booster despite not being allowed to attend matches at present.

Singh added: “We wanted to further demonstrate to the fans, the season ticket holders who were parted with their hard-earned cash and to all who have contributed to the budget booster that we are financially backing the manager and his team to get us much higher up the table where we all feel we should be.”

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