How Hartlepool United's ex-Rangers, Motherwell and Rotherham United winger can replace player of the year Luke Molyneux

Hastie, despite barely featuring, arrives with plenty of potential from Rangers having earned a move to Ibrox in 2019 on the back of some highly promising form with Motherwell, the club in which he progressed through the ranks with as a youngster.

Loan spells with Airdrieonians and Alloa allowed a young Hastie to dip his feet into the waters of Scottish league football before he really made his mark at Fir Park, when returning in January 2019.

The winger scored five times in his first six appearances back with the Steelmen, including a run of four goals in three Scottish Premiership games.

“He offers us great pace on the side. He can play off the left or the right. I really like him on the right with that left foot,” Pools manager Paul Hartley said of his new recruit.

“He burst on the scene a few years ago at Motherwell and got a great move to Rangers, where it’s not quite worked out.

“He had a loan spell at Rotherham where he did really well, he’s been at Linfield, Partick. He just needs to find a home now.

“He’s still a young man at 23. I still think there’s a lot of potential there and if we can work with him and help him and improve him, I think we’ve got a really good player on our hands and somebody who’ll really excite the fans.”

But the more pertinent question at this juncture is whether or not Hastie can fill the void left by Pools’ player of the year, Luke Molyneux, following his decision to move on from the Suit Direct Stadium for Doncaster Rovers.

Hartley’s suggestion of Hastie being a threat on the right of the attack and cutting in onto his left foot would be similar in that sense to the qualities of Molyneux, and you don’t have to stray too far to find further resemblances between the two.

During that run of eye-catching form back in a Motherwell shirt, Hastie scored two goals in particular which could be found right out of Molyneux’s playbook but with an added oomph to cap things off.

In a game against St Mirren in February 2019, Hastie opened the scoring when picking the ball up having hugged the right touchline before advancing infield and hammering an effort home off the underside of the bar.

In his next appearance for the Steelmen, against Hearts, Hastie replicated a little more of the Molyneux culture.

Once again picking up the ball in the right forward position, the Scotsman made a dart into the area, putting the defender on the back foot, before shifting the ball onto his left foot and then unleashing another fierce strike beyond the goalkeeper.

But there has been evidence of Hastie perhaps being able to produce moments beyond what Molyneux provided last season.

Upon his first appearance back at Motherwell in January 2019, Hastie notched in a 2-1 reverse to Ross County in the Scottish FA Cup.

Four days later he produced a stunning assist for David Turnbull, now of Celtic, as Motherwell clinched victory over Hibernian.

It was an assist to whet the appetite of any viewer with one report suggesting of Hastie’s impact: “The 19-year-old bamboozled the Hibs defence with his trickery, speed and colossal physical strength.”

A week later against Livingston, and Hastie demonstrated the kind of pace Pools have been crying out for of late when goalkeeper Mark Gillespie hurled the ball out to halfway where the winger would win in a footrace he had no right to win before beating another defender and grabbing his second goal of the game. It was pure, raw, pace. The kind which can trouble any defender, at any level.

In his official unveiling by Pools Hastie described himself as ‘quick’ and ‘direct’ and indicated the end-to-end nature of English football will suit his game having had first hand experience when on-loan at Rotherham United during the 2019/20 campaign.

But beyond a brief eye test, what do some of Hastie’s stats tell us about the kind of player Pools may be inheriting?

If we are comparing Hastie to Molyneux, for this purpose we will focus on those 14 appearances in the Football League Hastie made for the Millers in comparison to Molyneux’s standout season for Pools last year.

Molyneux made 55 appearances in all competitions, scoring 12 times which certainly trumps Hastie’s three strikes for Rotherham in 2019 - albeit those three strikes came within Hastie’s first three appearances for the club.

But beyond that, their performance levels were not too dissimilar.

On average, Hastie attempted 1.84 shots per game compared to Molyneux’s 2.00 while the expected goals (xG) ratios were 0.16 to 0.18 respectively, as per data experts Wyscout.

Hastie attempted 4.45 crosses per 90 minutes which is something Pools fans will be pleased to discover compared with Molyneux’s 1.95 crosses.

With much of Pools’ struggles towards the end of the season coming from a lack of service to the likes of Omar Bogle, Hastie’s higher crossing ratio, coupled with manager Hartley favouring of that style of play at times, could bode well for whoever leads the line at the Suit Direct Stadium next season.

Hastie attempted, on average, 8.99 dribbles per 90 minutes compared to Molyneux’s 5.69 while also winning 13.63 offensive duels - a ground duel where the player in possession is required to protect the ball with his body - to Molyneux’s 12.38.

On average, Pools’ player of the season touched the ball in the opposition penalty area (3.32) more than Hastie (3.00) and also made slightly more progressive runs, which can be described as a continuous ball control by one player attempting to draw the team significantly closer to the opponent goal, than Hastie (2.11-1.84).

What does all of this mean?

In essence, there doesn’t seem to be a great deal between the technical ability of both Molyneux and Hastie, which will encourage supporters ahead of seeing the former Ibrox youngster in action.

Hastie’s goal output will need to improve if he is to replace Molyneux’s tally during the 2021/22 campaign but the same can be said for much of the Pools squad who were the third lowest scorers in the division last season.

One thing which could tentatively tip the scales towards Hastie, particularly with this data, is that it is comparing a 20-year-old Hastie in League One to a 23-year-old Molyneux in League Two which does provide some leverage in any of those stats in which Hastie may be behind in.

The consensus however, seems to be that Hastie represents a good piece of business for Hartley and is one the Pools boss can look to build around going forward with the hope being he can rekindle the kind of form which persuaded Steven Gerrard to bring the Scotsman to the Europa League finalists.