New Hartlepool United frontman Gary Madine confident Pools can challenge for promotion - and eager to impress his football mad mother in the stands

The 34-year-old specialises in success and has won five promotions throughout his impressive career, including two to the Premier League.

The towering striker has 16 years in the top three divisions of English Football but was persuaded to drop down to the National League for the first time in a bid to add a sixth promotion to his C.V.

His arrival has certainly met with approval among supporters and his vast experience, powerful physique and prolific goalscoring record - he has notched more than 100 career goals - means he should become a prize asset for Pools.

Even so, there are set to be challenges ahead for Madine and manager Darren Sarll; the frontman's cameo at the weekend was his first competitive outing for more than 16 months and, in truth, he looked well off the pace.

The other issue will be how to get the best out of both him and Mani Dieseruvwe; Dieseruvwe was visibly frustrated when he was taken off with a little over 10 minutes to go on Saturday and it remains to be seen whether the pair, who were teammates at Sheffield Wednesday, can play together.

While their start hasn't been perfect, there does look to be plenty of promise in this Pools side who are 10th in the National League but have lost just one of their first six matches.

A lack of discipline - Pools have received three red cards in the last five games - as well as the failure to get the best out of their considerable attacking talent have worked against Sarll's side so far but if the former Stevenage, Yeovil and Woking boss can iron out a few creases then there's no reason his team can't begin looking up the table.

And Madine, who has now spent almost a month training with the squad, feels confident his new side have what it takes to push for promotion this season.

"After the first day of training I spoke to my agent and told him I could see this team being at the top of the league," he said.

"That made my decision to come here a lot easier - I want to be part of another winning side.

"If we can keep 11 men on the pitch, then I think we'll be right up there."

It was a slightly underwhelming debut for Madine, who played the final quarter of an hour as Pools, who had skipper Luke Waterfall sent off, were held to a goalless draw by part-time Braintree.

The game rather passed Madine by but it was nonetheless a step in the right direction for the striker who missed the entirety of last season with a serious injury.

He said: "It was great to make my debut and iI'm very grateful to the fans who gave me a fantastic reception when I came on.

"I'm just disappointed in my own performance, I couldn't influence the game like I wanted to.

"Nevertheless it's a great clean sheet after going down to 10 men - Luke Waterfall's devastated in the dressing room - and the lads dug in well for him."

Madine became the latest in a long line of new recruits to have links to the local area; of the 11 summer signings, Luke Charman, Jack Hunter, Adam Campbell, Adam Smith and Brad Young are all from the North East.

Madine was born in Gateshead, came through the ranks at Middlesbrough and is back playing in the region for the first time since he was a teenager.

The frontman's mum still lives in the area and is his biggest supporter from the stands and Madine is hoping returning to his roots will provide extra motivation in the twilight of his distinguished career.

"Mum loves her Saturday afternoons at the football," he said.

"She's there and she's got her lucky vest on - it wasn't so lucky today but the main thing is we didn't lose and we kept a clean sheet.

"I'm delighted to be back and I really hope I can score some goals for this club."