Nicky Featherstone discusses his return to action and the moment he felt would be 'the turning point' for Hartlepool United

Featherstone was ruled out for seven weeks after picking up ankle ligament damage in the 1-1 draw with Colchester United in September but made his return to the squad, ahead of schedule, at Swindon Town. The Pools skipper was handed over 70 minutes in his return at the County Ground before completing just shy of the full 90 minutes against Salford City in midweek and admits he is feeling good in his return to the side.

“It’s nice to be back involved with the lads. It’s probably a little bit quicker than we’d have hoped, but it’s nice to be out there,” said Featherstone.

“It’s been a frustrating seven weeks for me. I’ve said it before, I find it harder to be injured when the team is struggling, where you can’t go in and have an impact, but it’s nice to be back involved now.

“I feel alright, but I recover quite quickly anyway. The ankle feels good. I could be fitter, I will get fitter, and I will get better as the games go on. But my numbers are still where they need to be at and I’ve always recovered quite well.”

And Featherstone is hoping, as he continues to rebuild his match sharpness, it will coincide with a lift in form for Pools who find themselves in a precarious position at the bottom of League Two. The midfielder had anticipated the victory over Doncaster Rovers as being the turning point for the club this season, having taken five points from three games following Keith Curle’s arrival as interim boss, but things have not worked out that way with Hartlepool now having suffered five straight defeats in all competitions since that win at the Suit Direct Stadium.

“It’s tough. I’ve been here before with Pools. We haven't had it for a few years, it’s been quite a good run we’ve had,” said Featherstone.

“When you’re in the stands there’s nothing you can do at all to try and help the team. You try to be around them and lift the lads before the games but ultimately, once they cross the line, there’s nothing you can do or say so it’s frustrating.

“In that period we have beaten Donny. I thought that was going to be a turning point to start with but obviously we haven’t kicked on since then, because I thought the overall performance was very good in that game as well.

“We managed to come back from 2-0 down against a good Mansfield team. We showed a lot of character in them two games, but for whatever reason we haven’t managed to kick on so it’s been very frustrating.

“But I think there’s still enough belief in that changing room, and enough confidence in there, that we can get out of it.”