Newcastle United loanee Lewis Cass ruled out of Hartlepool United's crucial National League trip to Bromley as manager Dave Challinor contemplates 'a few changes'

Cass was withdrawn at half-time with Pools 3-0 to the good against The Spireites after suffering from tendinopathy in his knee.

Goalscorer Rhys Oates was also withdrawn after suffering from cramp but Hartlepool manager Dave Challinor expects the forward to be fine for Monday’s match at Hayes Lane (3pm kick-off).

"Cass will potentially be out,” Challinor admitted. “He’s had a bit of a tendinopathy issue with his knee which is due to the hard ground and the number of games he’s played for his age.

“That’s just a management one, he’s been struggling but our plan was to get him through today’s game and then rest him for a 3G pitch anyway. That takes care of itself.

"Oatesy was just a bit of cramp which comes from not playing a game for two weeks. That was fine and we wanted to bring Harvey [Saunders] on and give him a bit of an introduction with some space opening up around the back and we thought we could get some opportunities.

“Bromley is a difficult place to go but we couldn’t be going there in better spirits."

With less than 48-hours between Pools’ bank holiday matches and a 300-mile journey to Bromley to contend with, Challinor is anticipating some changes will be made.

“There will be a few changes which will be based on conversations between staff and players to see where everyone is at,” added the Pools boss.

"It’s probably the first and only game this season where we’ll be preempting changes not through performances but due to the quick turnaround and how we want to go about the game on Monday.

"It’s such a quick turnaround that some of the players who didn’t play on Saturday will start on Monday. We do have bodies that we need to take care of but I don’t think it will weaken us in any way.

“The lads who haven’t been involved are training and we’ll travel as a group on Sunday.

"We’ll get down to London and do another session. We’ll see how everyone is and pick a team who we think can go and win on Monday.”

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