Lee Clark backs 'elegant' Hartlepool United & West Bromwich Albion loan star to shine

Hartlepool United head coach Lee Clark has backed his latest signing to help his side evolve after on-loan West Bromwich Albion youngster Cole Deeming produced an eye-catching cameo in Saturday’s win against Woking.

The 19-year-old midfielder has already made his senior debut for the Championship club after he appeared as a substitute in a Carabao Cup tie against Fleetwood Town just over two years ago. However, the vast majority of his first-team experience has come during loan spells with Truro City and Cheltenham Town over the last year and he made 17 League Two appearances for the latter during the second half of last season.

Deeming’s development has now been placed in the hands of Clark and his Pools coaching staff after he agreed to spend the first half of the season at Victoria Park and after taking part in training alongside his new team-mates on Friday, the youngster appeared for the last 20 minutes of the win against Woking just 24 hours later.

Deeming came off the bench to replace Liam Gibson and produced some impressive moments in and out of possession as Clark’s side ended a run of three consecutive defeats to return to winning ways with a narrow victory against the Cards. The Baggies prospect will now go into contention for Friday night’s visit to Kidderminster Harriers - and he will head into the game on the back of receiving a positive assessment of his ability from the Pools head coach.

Speaking after Saturday’s win, Clark said: “I think we saw little glimpses. He had 45 minutes on the grass yesterday [Friday] and a couple of video sessions - but you could see he’s a very technically gifted player. He is one of those left-footed players that looks very elegant and certainly with the players we have, he’s going to compliment them a lot and we think he can do things on the ball for us. As we evolve, we want players that can make things happen in the middle and final third and we believe Cole can do that.”

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