Injury boost for Hartlepool United as defender's injury not as bad as first feared

Manager Craig Hignett revealed his fears the youngster could miss then next four to six weeks have been eased this week - with a possible return from the knee problem in just a fortnight pencilled in.

"He’s a little bit stiff, a little bit sore, it’s not as bad as we first thought which is good," said the manager, whose side head to Eastleigh tomorrow.

"It might only be a couple of weeks that Aaron misses - which again is a real bonus for us and him he’s had enough injury problems to last a lifetime but hopefully now he’s gonna be over the worst of it.

"It was just a really awkward fall and twist nothing can be done about it, so we’ve had a bit of good news with Aaron so hopefully it won’t be long.”

Things have been far from straight-forward in camp on the fitness front, though.

A sickness bug swept through the Pools dressing room midweek, but Hignett is hopeful it will not have too much of an impact on his plans for the weekend.

"We’ve had a couple who missed out," said Hignett.

"There’s been a bit of illness floating about the camp so we have to see how that settles down before we travel (on Friday).

"We've got a long coach trip on Friday - but we’re used to that. The league is so southern-based, so travelling is massive for us, more so than any other club barring Gateshead.

“We’ve got massive trips to cope with every other week and it’s something that we do anyway it’s a bit easier for the clubs down south to travel and get about this league.”

Hignett welcomes back David Edgar, after he missed last weekend's win over Wrexham due to an international call up for Canada.