Hartlepool United injury latest – Dave Challinor's hope for Northern Ireland under-21s following Sheffield United loanee David Parkhouse's knock

Striker David Parkhouse picked up a knock while on international duty with Northern Ireland under-21s during the week.

The 20-year-old wasn’t involved in Northern Ireland’s 3-2 defeat at home to Finland’s under-21s side last Friday. And Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor hopes the Sheffield United loanee will remain rested against Ukraine under-21s on Tuesday night as he hopes to have the forward back and fit for the weekend trip to Barnet.

“I spoke to Parky and it’s only a niggle,” Challinor told The Mail. “He had a fitness test and was feeling something so they pulled him out on Friday – they’ve got a game Tuesday but I’m hoping he doesn’t play.

"Even though it’s an international qualifier, looking at where Northern Ireland are in their group, they can’t really qualify. So being selfish, I’d rather have him not play that game and be fresh for us next weekend.

"But it’s out of my hands and I just hope he’s not risked and it doesn’t end up being something that ends up being worse further down the line and we suffer from it.

"Hopefully he comes back fit and ready to go because we need as many bodies as we can at the moment just to give us a few options.”

While Parkhouse remains on international duty, Gary Liddle (groin) is also out of Tuesday night’s match against Bromley – they are the only two absentees as it stands.

“We’ve tried to be protective with the players we brought off on Saturday,” Challinor added.

"Ryan [Donaldson] looked a little bit tired down the right side and he’s played a lot of football as he’s an important player for us. It was a similar case with Shelts [Mark Shelton].

"It was important we got Mason [Bloomfield] through 90-minutes which will be great for him because he hasn’t played an awful lot of football.

"I’d like to be able to make more subs and get Josh [MacDonald] on because he’s still waiting for his opportunity and making only three means someone is always going to miss out.

"We’ve got no new injuries and hopefully we have everyone fresh and ready to go again on Tuesday.”

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