Hartlepool United defender looks ahead to potential reunion with Grimsby Town FA Cup hero

John Askey’s side make the trip to Blundell Park on Good Friday for the first of the Easter weekend double-header and could see themselves come up against a number of familiar faces in the Mariners’ squad.

Gavan Holohan, Bryn Morris, Kieran Green and Danny Amos could all come up against their former side as Hartlepool make the trip to Lincolnshire.

But it is likely to be Holohan who most eyes will be on, should he overcome a knock.

After playing his part in helping Hartlepool back to the Football League he became a fan favourite at the Suit Direct Stadium, and a friend Ferguson still speaks to on a regular basis - including when asking the Irishman for a favour when the Mariners went up against Hartlepool’s relegation rivals Crawley Town recently.

“It’ll be nice to see some familiar faces. I’m looking forward to seeing Gav,” Ferguson told The Mail.

“I have a good bit of craic with Gav. I spoke to him before the Crawley game just to ask him to try and do us a favour more than anything, but it’s nice to speak to him.

“Hopefully he doesn’t step up this Friday.”

Holohan scored the opening goal of the game on his return to the Suit Direct Stadium when the two sides met in the reverse fixture with a stunning strike.

Speaking with The Mail ahead of that return back in October, Holohan had expressed how he felt disappointed he was not able to say a proper goodbye to supporters – something he was able to rectify, somewhat, when applauding fans at the Suit Direct Stadium earlier this season.

“That was the disappointing thing, that I didn’t really get the chance to have that goodbye with them and ended up sneaking out the back door,” said Holohan.

“I’ve been on record and said it many times about how good the fans were to me. They accepted me into the club and made me feel like part of the club and one of their own. It’s not often that happens.

“I still speak to the boys regularly; Crawfs, Fergie. There’s a few more as well and people who I’m always going to stay in touch with no matter where I go in my career.”

Hartlepool first team coach Antony Sweeney also made comment on, potentially, coming up against Holohan and some of the club’s former players when they face Grimsby.

“We want to keep him [Holohan] quiet. We couldn’t in the home game, he scored an unbelievable goal and he’s had a knack of scoring goals which he proved when he was here as well,” said Sweeney.

“I think he’ll be okay with me saying that I hope him, Bryn, Kieran, they all have an off day.

“They’re more than comfortable in the division, they’ve had a good cup run, so maybe it’s our turn on Friday.”

Sweeney was speaking after the club's open training session earlier this week at the Suit Direct Stadium in which several hundred supporters attended.

Sweeney could be seen leading the session before joining players in taking time out for supporters to sign autographs and take pictures.

But one thing Sweeney was keen to comment on was the standard of training from the players. At the conclusion of the session both Dan Kemp and Connor Jennings stuck around for some additional shooting drills with Sweeney, who admits that is the attitude the squad will need during the relegation run-in.

“It’s the attitude you want,” Sweeney told The Mail.

“I’m exactly the same as a coach, you’re still developing and you’re still refining your skill set.

“Just that five or 10 minutes, there might be one ball that comes in on Friday that replicates what they’ve done there and they might have that motor memory where they get in the right area and they get the right contact on it.

“It might not, but you’re better off doing it than not doing it.”

Ferguson, meanwhile, has found himself taking on the role of captain under Askey after the decision to leave Nicky Featherstone out of the team in recent weeks.

But it is a role in which Ferguson is happy to have, with the defender keen to acknowledge the upturn in performances since Askey’s arrival as Pools continue to fight for their Football League status.

“It’s a pleasure to have the captain's armband. Whenever Feaths comes on the pitch I give it to him, I respect that, but it’s nice to be given it,” said Ferguson.

“We’ve been doing well, even before Saturday. I think we’re confident.

“When you get that win it gives you more confidence, you know you’ve had your first win and you can look to kick on and get back-to-back wins. But I feel, as a dressing room, we have been confident in each other.

“When we’ve been drawing games it’s been fine margins, but to finally get that win is great to have on the board.”

He added: “You can see it. The lads who have come in, and since the gaffer has come in, everyone is together and has kicked on and we’ve kicked on as a team.”

Asked what the difference has been under Askey, Ferguson said: “It’s just the nitty-gritty parts of games that we’ve been missing all season.

“Even the off the ball stuff we’ve improved massively on, we’re a lot fitter now.

“You can see in the six games he’s been here we're scoring late on, we’re not giving in, we’re running over teams in the last 10 or 15 minutes which is good credit to the staff that’s behind the scenes and the lads as well. We keep going and we’ve dug in.”