John Askey's Hartlepool United budget acknowledgement as Pools' struggles continue

Hartlepool fell to a ninth league defeat of the season at the Shay in what is becoming an all too familiar pattern for Askey and the weaknesses within his side.

Pools continue to have one of the worst defensive records in the National League whilst remaining short of options in key areas.

But Askey has now admitted to the constraints he is under when it comes to fixing those problems – at least with regards to bringing in new personnel.

Pools have been dealt a cruel hand when it comes to the injuries they have sustained throughout their squad with the likes of Anthony Mancini, Dan Dodds and Callum Cooke all being sidelined, with Askey left short as a result at times this season despite bringing in 15 new faces since the beginning of the summer.

Six of those arrivals are loan deals, with Nicky Featherstone on a short-term contract and Osazee Aghatise who was also on a short-term deal recently departing the club.

Pools are having to operate within their means in terms of loaning players out to loan players in, after Kieran Burton, Edon Pruti and Mikael Ndjoli all departed on short-term moves recently.

"That’s what we’ve done with Kieran and Edon going and then with Mika, it frees up our own money and we brought Joe [Mattock] in,” said Askey.

"As you can tell by the side, we know where we need bodies, we’ve just got to try and find somebody for those positions. It’s about getting the right ones in.

"It's difficult when at the start of the season we’ve got injuries, and when you’ve got injuries like that it’s difficult to bring people in when the budget has been taken.

"So it is difficult, and with what players are available at that time of the season – you can’t replace like for like at this time of the season. But I don't want to make excuses. At the end of the day we've got to find a way of doing better.”