Nicky Featherstone: Hartlepool United midfielder confident Pools can challenge for promotion

The 36-year-old is set to make his 600th career appearance when his side travel to Southend this weekend.

Well over 400 of those matches have been played for Pools, with Featherstone spending more than a decade at Victoria Park.

The metronomic midfielder was an integral part of the side that won promotion from the National League in 2021 and Featherstone feels the current crop are capable of doing something similar.

Despite a disappointing start to the campaign, Pools have moved to within two points of the top seven following a turnaround in form under Lennie Lawrence, who celebrates his 77th birthday on Saturday.

And Featherstone, who admits he'll consider his own future towards the end of the season, believes Pools can compete for promotion this term.

"The squad we have is capable of making that top seven, no doubt about it," he said.

"It's just about performing on a consistent basis in the league and I think that's what we've struggled with since the promotion season.

"Since Lennie's taken over things have looked a lot more promising.

"In terms of can we make it? Absolutely.

"We're two points off now and at this level there's not a lot between most of the teams.

"We went to Solihull and beat them away, we played Barnet at home when they were top of the table and flying and we managed to get a result.

"What the best teams do is put a run of results together and they're consistently good with their performances, which we haven't been over the last couple of years.

"For me, personally, I think we take it game by game and see where that takes us but we can absolutely do it."