Hartlepool United United hit by sudden injury crisis as Dave Challinor contemplates further signings

A week ago, Pools had an almost fully fit squad of players as they looked to continue their promotion push in the National League.

But on the week Nicky Featherstone made his return from injury after five games out – the side have suffered a number of set-backs.

Ryan Johnson missed Tuesday nights draw with a groin injury while in-form right-back Jamie Sterry was taken off during the match with a thigh issue.

The pair are both doubts for Saturday’s crucial trip to league leaders Torquay United along with club captain Ryan Donaldson, who missed out due to a foot issue.

Luke Williams has also suffered a slight set-back which has seen him miss training recently.

Defensively, Pools are now left looking slightly thin on the ground with even back-up defender Aaron Cunningham out for the remainder of the season after requiring ankle surgery following an injury picked up while on loan at Blyth Spartans.

Challinor had previously played down the prospect of further signings at but has admitted the latest batch of injuries could see the Pools dip into the transfer market.

“We have to assess where we’re at because we have to make sure we’re covered until the end of the season,” Challinor told The Mail.

"We have to see how Johnno is and how Jamie is. Ryan [Donaldson] is one who has been feeling his foot. Luke Williams hasn’t had a huge set-back but hasn’t trained for a couple of days but he’ll be back this week hopefully.

"It’s the back end of the pitch where we are a little bit tight and don’t have masses of cover in terms of wing-backs and centre-backs and don’t have players who can just move and play there naturally.

"We’ll look at our options but we don’t want to jump into things quickly if it’s just going to be a case of a player missing one game.

"We need to be realistic and think longer term where if they’re going to be back quickly then we just work with what we’ve got.”

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