Hartlepool United to seek second opinion on injury to ex-Bradford City midfielder

Cooke was a notable absentee as Hartlepool fell to defeat at Gillingham recently with manager Keith Curle revealing the 25-year-old was missing through injury.

That injury has now been confirmed as an ankle problem with Curle suggesting the club will need to seek a second opinion on the matter after a concerning first analysis.

“Callum is still going through a period of assessment and we’re looking for a second opinion,” said Curle.

“The first opinion wasn’t good so we’ve gone down the route of needing a second opinion for clarity - not only for Callum, but for ourselves to set the treatment plan.

“He’s got some sort of bone bruising on his ankle that in certain movements it can be bearable, but then if he does a certain movement it can halt him in his tracks and it can take a bit of time for him to recover.

“We’ve got to explore everything and whether it can be modified or changed in terms of if there are certain strappings or certain movements we need him to avoid whereby he can play and perform.

“Or is it a case of; we need to shut it down and go through a treatment plan to get him pain free? That’s then the option we’ve got to take.”

Cooke had been beginning to find his form for Hartlepool in recent weeks with two goals and a number of assists, but could now be set for a period out of the side.

The midfielder has been managing a knee problem for much of the season with Curle confirming Cooke has also been playing with the ankle issue for a number of weeks.

“He’s had it, and has been playing on with it, for about five or six weeks when it first came up,” said Curle.

“But that shows the attitude of the lad. He wants to be out there and wants to be playing.

“He’s up, he’s mobile, he’s walking around. Certain days, and certain movements, he can be pain free but there’s a restriction in it that we need to get to the bottom of as quickly as possible to get it healed.”