John Askey hoping this will be the key to an upturn in Hartlepool United's form

Askey has rarely been afforded the luxury of being able to name a consistent starting line-up this season with injuries and form plaguing his side throughout the first half of the campaign.

The Hartlepool boss has tried a number of variations, particularly in defence, having also utilised the opportunity to bring in several players on short-term deals to try and aid their defensive concerns. But try as he might, Askey has been unable to find a regular, winning formula this season as Pools have slipped into the bottom half of the National League table where they find themselves a long way back in terms of the play-off race.

But after the short-term arrival of Sheffield Wednesday loanee Ciaran Brennan, who made his debut in the club's 5-1 win over City of Liverpool in the FA Trophy joining Emmanuel Onariase and Joe Mattock in defence, Askey believes his side will soon start reaping the rewards of a consistent, more experienced back line after the trio started for a second successive game in the narrow defeat to Chesterfield.

“It’s been the problem for most of the season [fielding a consistent defensive line] but the lads who played [against Chesterfield] have got experience,” explained Askey.

"Ciaran is only 23 but he’s still got more experience than the lads who have been playing, so it’s important we try and get a settled team at the back and we can start to keep the clean sheets we need because scoring goals hasn’t been a problem.

“We were unlucky with the goal we conceded. Apart from that we limited them to very few opportunities. We played the team who are top and are walking away with it and we more than competed with them. That hasn’t happened very often so, hopefully, if we can get a more settled team with players coming back then results will improve.

"But we’re coming up to a busy period. We're going to get injuries again so we need everybody in the squad as fit as possible.”