Injury update on Hartlepool United forward Olufela Olomola after former Southampton youngster spotted on crutches ahead of Morecambe match

The forward was set to feature in the Papa John’s Trophy match against Morecambe at Victoria Park but turned up to the ground sporting crutches after rolling his ankle on the 3G pitch during training on Monday.

And manager Dave Challinor hopes it won’t be a long term injury for Olomola.

"There is no fracture, he’s been for an x-ray,” he told The Mail. “I’m not sure where he’s got the crutches from, whether he’s got them from the hospital or not, I’m not too sure!

"Hopefully it’s nothing too serious. He went off in training on Monday and we thought he might be struggling then I went back in and he was pretty confident he’d be able to play.

"It’s obviously painful and swelled up overnight which ruled him out. Hopefully it’s not too long for him, it’s soft tissue so it’ll be a pain thing more than anything else.”

The match against Morecambe saw Pools switch to a four at the back formation as they drew 2-2 with the League One side before picking up a bonus point on penalties.

“We changed [the formation] due to the personnel,” Challinor added. “We’ve played that shape in the bounce games and Fela would have played so we would have been more attacking and a slightly different shape to be honest.

"Also we set up trying to accommodate our forward players and how they sat on the pitch in order to get chances.”

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