Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor looks on the bright side of Solihull Moors Storm Dennis postponement as he makes trip to watch Notts County

Pools’ game was one of nine postponed matches in the National League on Saturday as Storm Dennis wreaked havoc on the fixture schedule.

“When severe weather is forecast like this you have to look at the situation and say that, regardless of where you are in the country, it’s going to affect you,” Challinor told the club website.

“Even if the pitch is playable, the wind that is due to arrive would make the game a bit of a lottery.

“When you look at our division and National Leagues North and South, the amount of games going ahead is minimal so we knew it would have to be something special if we were going to get played.

“Looking on the bright side, we’ve actually benefited from training on a really good surface at Aston Villa on Friday.

“Obviously, the disappointing thing is that you haven’t got a game at the end of what has been a really good week of training.”

One of only three National League games to go ahead was Notts County’s match at home to Woking. And attentions quickly switched to Pools’ match against the Magpies next weekend.

“I will go to the Notts County game and watch them so that we can very quickly put a plan in place,” Challinor added.

“Nottingham isn’t too far away from me so every cloud and all that – so I will go and take in a live game there, which will be useful.

“It’s the second time I’ve been to watch at Notts County this season and the last time was really enjoyable so hopefully this afternoon will be just as good!

“It also gives us an extra day of training because we can really work the lads Monday and Tuesday and get through a lot of stuff we want to do, as well as reinforcing what we did last week.

“The lads will get a chance to go home and relax for the weekend before refocusing on their work on Monday morning.”