Hartlepool United defender doubtful for Swindon Town clash as John Askey discusses selection 'dilemma'

Murray has established himself as a regular back in the Hartlepool starting line-up since the arrival of John Askey with a series of positive performances as Pools have remained unbeaten in five.

But the Scotsman was forced off during the second half of last week’s draw with Leyton Orient after a heavy collision.

Murray was unable to shake off the injury and was helped off with Askey confirming to The Mail the 29-year-old has not been able to train this week as a result.

"He’s struggling at the moment. It was a dead leg,” said Askey.

“He’s not been able to train, he might be able to do a little bit today, but we’ve just got to see whether he’ll be able to come through or not.

"He’ll be touch and go. Hopefully he’ll be okay but we’re not 100 per cent at the moment, but he’s done well since I’ve come in.”

Murray’s potential absence leaves Askey with a decision to make when it comes to his starting line-up to face Swindon.

Askey could set-up like-for-like in replacing Murray with Peter Hartley in a back three or he could revert to a back four and introduce Wes McDonald in attack, following his impressive cameo from the bench against Leyton Orient.

"We’ve got other players who can come in or we can look at how we play,” Askey told The Mail.

"If a player goes out now, with having the players we now have available - when I first came in it probably would have been a big problem because we had eight or nine players out, so it’s less of a problem now.

"It’s not a dilemma, it’s a nice position to be in,” he added.

"We've been playing well with a back three, then we went to a back four [against Leyton Orient] because of circumstance and we looked good playing with a back four.

"We were a little bit lopsided and we got away with it because Leyton Orient’s play was a little bit lopsided, because they play with a wide man and two front men. So in that game we matched up and it worked for that particular game.

"You’re always looking at ways to get the better of the opposition and sometimes it dictates how the opposition play as well.”

Beyond Murray’s possible absence, Askey has pretty much a fully fit squad to choose from for another important fixture in their relegation battle against Swindon with goalkeeper Ben Killip also back available.

Killip was missing from the squad last week after the club confirmed he had picked up an injury which led to Patrick Boyes being recalled from his loan spell at Liversedge.

But the 27-year-old is back available to compete with Jakub Stolarczyk.

"Ben is fine. He was able to train this week and he’s trained really well - both keepers have to be honest,” confirmed Askey.

"He had a calf injury, only a slight one, and it wasn’t worth the risk. But he’s trained really well this week.”

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