'It'll be a long road' – Hartlepool United manager Craig Hignett provides injury update on former Sunderland winger and his squad

What was initially thought to be a bit of bone bruising for the 21-year-old was later revealed to be more serious as surgery would be required to remove loose bits of bone from his leg.

Luke Williams was also under the knife again for an arthroscopic operation on his knee but he isn’t thought to be too far away from getting back on the training pitch.

“It’s just rehab for the two Lukes now,” Hignett confirmed.

“It’ll be a long road for Luke Molyneux, he’s got six weeks where he can’t do anything so he’s still on crutches at the moment and then he can crack on after six weeks.

“Luke Williams will be quicker, we’re looking at a couple of weeks before he can start doing stuff and then we can start trying to get him back involved from there so he’s the closer one.”

Kenton Richardson, Josh Hawkes, Nicke Kabamba and Niko Muir were all involved in Tuesday’s friendly win over Carlisle United after putting their respective injury troubles behind them.

Myles Anderson wasn’t involved as he recovers from a concussion picked up at Chorley last month.

“The players are doing good – Niko came on during Tuesday’s match but felt a tightening in his hamstring but it’s nothing and he’s training today,” Hignett added.

“He’s just getting used to playing again. He was only on 20-minutes but I told him to have a good go at it and see how it stood up so he’ll be all right.

“Everyone else came through the Carlisle game all right. Gav [Holohan] had a bang on his hip but he’s fine this morning but no one else from that game.

“Myles is still feeling groggy with his head. He’s had a whack, had the stitches which has cleared up now but he’s suffered from a bit of concussion so there’s a protocol you’ve got to follow with a concussion.

“Myles is on that road now, he just feels a bit groggy and not right in himself still.”