Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor 'hopeful but never expectant' of further arrivals as the wait for Aidan Keena's international clearance continues

Last week, Pools secured their first permanent signing under their new manager as striker Aidan Keena signed from Scottish Premiership side Hearts.

But failure to be granted international clearance in time denied the Irishman of a potential debut at Dover Athletic.

The 20-year-old could be made to wait even longer as the clearance is still yet to come through ahead of Saturday’s match at Yeovil Town (3pm kick-off).

And regarding any potential progress on the transfer front, Challinor said: “We’re hopeful but never expectant because things can happen that we can’t control.

“We’ve obviously brought Aidan in and his clearance hasn’t come through but he’ll be a good addition for us once he’s available.

“We’re bare bones at the moment with injuries and it’s an assessment process regarding what we need to bring in, what we can bring in and whether we need to balance things by getting players out.

“There’s a lot of things I’d like to do but it’s a case of getting the right players in not just bringing in players for the sake of it.

“If we can’t get players out then it’s difficult to bring players in because we don’t want to end up with a huge squad. But things change daily and with the games being weekly now we’ve got more of an opportunity to work on things.”