Keith Curle admits Hartlepool United will 'miss' 25-year-old striker at Barrow

Curle takes his side to Holker Street looking to climb away from the bottom two in the League Two table against Pete Wild’s Barrow who have won three of their last four games in the league.

Barrow have the third best home record in the division heading into this afternoon’s meeting and Hartlepool’s task will be made even more difficult by the absence of leading goal scorer Umerah, who is missing after picking up his fifth caution of the season in the 1-0 defeat at Stevenage last week.

“He’s been our talisman, our goal scorer and he gives us that physical presence and gives us another way of knocking on the opposition's door,” Curle told The Mail.

“He’s mobile and has got an eye for goal so any team in League Two would miss him and would miss a player of that stature and that quality within their ranks, so he will be a miss.”

Umerah’s absence means opportunity will shine on somebody else within the Hartlepool squad as Curle is left with a decision to make to replace the 25-year-old.

Theo Robinson has been quite heavily involved alongside Umerah since his arrival in October while Joe Grey made a solid impact from the bench in place of Umerah in the FA Cup in midweek, including scoring the winning penalty against Solihull Moors.

Jack Hamilton will be an option should he recover from an ankle injury picked up in the FA Cup first round replay while Mikael Ndjoli has featured on the bench in recent weeks, with wide options of Wes McDonald, Ellis Taylor and Jake Hastie also available.

“Joe has, Theo has, we’ve still got Mika Ndjoli. Jack Hamilton has had a knock on his ankle but we’re hoping that settles down,” Curle told The Mail when asked if any of his attacking options had put themselves within a chance of replacing Umerah.

“It would be nice to go out and win a couple of games and keep the same team week in, week out, but it’s one of those.

“We’re stretched. I don't think I’ve played the same team twice yet. It seems like every week there’s changes that have to be made - not because of tactical decisions but because of availability. But it’s part and parcel of the job.

“Credit to the players that they haven’t shied away from different challenges. We’re trying to build that resilience into the players. You might be asked to play a different side as a full-back or in a completely unfamiliar role, but accept it and deal with it.”

Curle is likely to be without defensive trio Rollin Menayese, Alex Lacey and Jamie Sterry, with the interim boss revealing full-back Sterry’s calf injury remains a ‘frustrating’ one.

Mark Shelton and Mouhamed Niang remain doubtful while midfielder Tom Crawford is set to miss a major part of the season after undergoing surgery for a long-term ankle injury.