Hartlepool United continue to be cautious with former Middlesbrough midfielder Luke Williams despite four goal return in pre-season friendly

The match was Williams’ first start for Pools since he joined the club permanently from Scunthorpe United back in 2018.

While the former Middlesbrough midfielder is yet to be offered a new deal at Victoria Park, he has been given the opportunity to prove his fitness to Dave Challinor and his coaching staff during pre-season.

And things are looking fairly promising for the 27-year-old so far having played 30-minutes at Morpeth before a 45-minute outing during a practice match and a further 75-minutes over the weekend.

In the past week, Williams has already surpassed the number of minutes on the field he managed in his first two years since signing for Hartlepool.

Challinor has not ruled out a new contract for Williams but admits any progress on that front will be down to the player.

"It’s ultimately not about what I think,” the Pools boss told the Hartlepool website.

"For Luke, it’s a big marker physiologically to get minutes ticked off. With him, it’s a case of working with him and seeing where he’s at – he’s played half an hour [at Morpeth], he played 45-minutes in an in house game and he’s played 70-plus minutes this weekend.

"Hopefully the data is a step up for him and there are incremental little steps. Again there will be some little things to tick off, there’s a decent 50-50 challenge which he recovered from which ticks another box.

"It’s about him being confident and moving forward in that way, we’re not in a rush, he’s not in a rush and hopefully there are no ill effects and we’ll see where we’re at next weekend with him.”

Williams is set to get a 90-minute run-out over the two friendly matches against a Middlesbrough XI and Gateshead next weekend.

But with Pools hoping to challenge for a play-off place this coming season, having a Luke Williams who is simply able to complete matches won’t be enough for Challinor.

Williams’ four goals, albeit against Northern League Divison Two opposition, provided a glimpse into what he could bring to the side when fully fit and on form.

"We’re taking baby steps with him but the minutes on the field will give him more belief,” the Hartlepool manager told The Mail.

“He knows what he needs to do and it’s been a tough time for him. But there are differences in terms of what he needs to do to be able to play and what he needs to do to be part of our team for the coming season.

"I’ve said to him, we won’t push him but he knows where he needs to get to and these games will do him the world of good.

“The plan was always to be careful and limit his minutes here and there. We'll see where we are with the upcoming games and go from there.”

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