Hartlepool United boss Dave Challinor provides injury updates on Gary Liddle and Luke Williams ahead of congested fixture schedule

Liddle, 34, hasn’t featured since the 6-0 FA Cup fourth qualifying round win at Ilkeston Town after suffering a groin injury in November.

When asked about the player following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat by Boreham Wood at Victoria Park, Challinor told the Mail: “Where we were with Lids we were always looking probably January and that’s still the case.

“He’s running and stepping up his stuff, the test with him will come with lateral stuff with an adductor problem but he’s fine and is on schedule for where he needs to be.”

Williams has also been sidelined with a hamstring issue which he suffered during November’s abandoned match at Eastleigh.

The forward is making progress following the setback but Challinor says it will be tricky to rebuild his match fitness during a congested fixture schedule.

“Luke trained on Friday with no ill effects,” said the Pools boss.

“The difficulty we’ve got with quite a few of the players is they could do with a game, but the problem we’ve got is we’ve now got Saturday, Tuesday, Saturday, Tuesday right up until the end of January so it becomes difficult to find them a game.

“We have to try and be a little bit careful but ultimately we want to get him back in contention as quickly as possible.

“He’s training and that’s certainly a big plus.”

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