Colin Cooper excited to have teenage Newcastle United keeper Freddie Woodman at Hartlepool United

The Newcastle United keeper joined Pools yesterday morning on a month’s loan and was on the bench for the 5-1 defeat at Northampton Town at the Sixfields Stadium.

The 17-year-old, son of Newcastle’s goalkeeping coach Andy Woodman, is highly-rated and Cooper is pleased to have him on board as cover for Scott Flinders.

Woodman has represented England at Under 16, Under 17 and Under 18 level and was part of the national side that won the European Under 17 Championship finals in the summer.

Cooper told SportMail that both he and goalkeeping coach Stephen Pears had spoken with Woodman Senior, who was keen for his son to learn his trade at Pools.

Cooper said: “He is a terrific young man and a terrific young goalkeeper who is climbing the international ladder.

“I think it will be a good experience for him to come and work for us and not have the best of everything - which you do have in the Premier League and with international football.

“Having seen him play, he certainly looks to have a pretty bright future and it will be good for him to be here for a spell.

“The one thing that Scott Flinders does is work hard every day.

“It will be good for Freddie to see a different side of things and to sample a bit of League Two culture.”

Woodman will remain with the League Two side until Tuesday, October 21.

However, as part of the deal, Woodman will still be eligible to represent Newcastle at Under-21 and Under-18 level.

Pools’ former Number 2 Andy Rafferty left the club last month.

Since then Cooper has been relying on youth keeper Jonathan Barber and Joel Dixon, a young keeper from Sunderland who had a month’s spell on loan.