Here are Hartlepool United's free weekend plans following frozen pitch postponement at Halifax Town as focus switches to Wealdstone

The match at The Shay was called off at 9.25am on Saturday morning due to a frozen pitch as both sides now have to wait to get up and running for the new year as a rearranged date is drawn up.

But after playing three games in six days in between December 22 and 28, the free weekend comes as something of a welcome break for Dave Challinor and his players.

"The players will have the weekend off but we’ve sent them plans to do in order to keep on top of their loads, especially for the ones who haven’t played a lot of football over the last couple of weeks or months,” Challinor told The Mail.

“Our prep starts straight away for Wealdstone and our lads will hopefully have done their work over the weekend and enjoyed a bit of time with their families after a busy time of the year.

"They’ve deserved a little break but we know that we’ve had a good run and January is a big month for us.

"Even though we don’t play a lot of games, we have got to make the most of them because afterwards, February, March, April and May are busy months with lots of games and not a lot of time to work on stuff and earn your rest.

"We’re back training on Monday and potentially have a full week to prepare to go again against Wealdstone.”

Mark Shelton, Lewis Cass and David Ferguson will be back training this week following their respective injury issues.

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Hartlepool United coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor