Hartlepool United manager Darren Sarll faces tough call in central-midfield ahead of National League opener

The Pools boss has rotated between fielding two and three central-midfielders; during Saturday's 3-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest B, he opted for three with Adam Campbell ahead of them in a central attacking role.

Having struggled in the engine room last term, Pools released both Callum Cooke and Tom Crawford - who made 75 appearances between them - while offering veteran Nicky Featherstone, who turns 36 next month, a player-coach deal.

Jack Hunter and Nathan Sheron, who arrived with reputations for being more robust, reliable and dynamic than Crawford and Cooke, were signed in a bid to bolster Sarll's midfield, while Irishman Greg Sloggett followed later.

Featherstone, as he so often does, has surprised sections of supporters who were prepared to write him off after he rather ran out of steam towards the end of last term with an impressive summer; Pools have, for the most part, looked a much better side with him in it.

Sloggett, who has made a strong start to his career at Victoria Park, missed the last two warm up matches after sustaining an ankle injury against Sunderland under-21s, with Sarll suggesting it could keep him out of Saturday's National League opener, a long trip to Yeovil.

Kieran Wallace, meanwhile, is back in training but it will still be some time until he can be considered available for selection while the mercurial Anthony Mancini has endured a stop-start pre-season. The Frenchman is expected back in full training on Monday, but it seems likely he'll start the new campaign on the bench.

That leaves Sheron, Hunter and Featherstone in the running to get the nod next weekend.

A lot will depend on whether Sarll starts three or four attackers; Mani Dieseruvwe, Adam Campbell and Joe Grey appear shoo-ins, but it's not clear whether Luke Charman will be deemed fit enough to start.

If Sarll opts to leave Charman on the bench then the likeliest solution would be to field three central-midfielders and three attackers ahead of them.

If, however, he chooses Charman from the start, then one of the midfield trio will have to be content with a place on the bench.

"That's the beauty about being a football manager, until you know what you've definitely got - and things can change up to the last kick of the ball on Friday - you can't settle on anything with certainty," he said.

"We've tried to experiment with a number of different shapes. We don't want to be rolling into the new season and, if something goes wrong, be flipping a coin and hoping it lands on heads.

"Midfield was something we really wanted to focus on this summer in terms of our recruitment and I think we look a lot physically stronger and more dynamic.

"We've got some good options in there, so we'll see."