Louis Stephenson: teenage defender remains part of Hartlepool United's plans after heading out on loan to Whitby Town

The popular 19-year-old featured in all of the first six games of the new season but fell out of favour following a difficult 45 minutes against Wealdstone in August.

Stephenson spent time out on loan at Blyth Spartans earlier in the campaign and has struggled to force his way back into contention since returning to Pools.

Some fans might have expected that he would get his chance while Dan Dodds served a suspension following his red card against Eastleigh, but Pools instead opted to move versatile midfielder Nathan Sheron back to right-back.

The energetic and attack-minded full-back is still held in high regard at the Prestige Group Stadium and Limbrick has backed him to have a successful career at Pools.

Stephenson links up with a host of familiar faces at Northern Premier League side Whitby; the Seasiders are managed by Pools legend Gary Liddle, Campbell Darcy and Alfie Steel are also on loan in North Yorkshire while former Poolies Connor Simpson, Nathan Thomas and Connor Smith are all part of the squad at the Towbar Express Stadium.

The talented teenager produced a man of the match performance as Whitby thumped Lancaster City 3-0 to move into the top half of the league table on Saturday.

Limbrick was full of praise for the departing defender and even suggested Stephenson was a little unfortunate not to have broken back into the Pools first team.

"One thing I would say is that I'm a really big Louis Stephenson fan," he said.

"I think he's a really good player, I think he's got great attributes and I think he's been really unfortunate.

"We've got two right-backs and he's a bit similar to (Dan) Doods from what I've seen.

"He could easily have come in and slotted in instead of Sheron if we wanted to keep Sheron in midfield. Of course, Sheron's come in and done well there.

"I think Louis is unfortunate not to be playing - he trains well, he's improving and developing all the time.

"We were doing some one-on-one defending the other day and he was taking on board the information really well - he wants to get better.

"I think he'll have a really good career here, there's no doubt about that.

"He needs to play and he needs game time, so I think it's a loan to help him develop and gain more experience.

"It's a loan to get him ready to then come back and play for us.

"I think he's got a bright future and I've been really impressed with him so far."