One big question Hartlepool United want answering before National League voting deadline with trips to Dover Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge, Eastleigh and Wrexham coming up

With the National League season set to be decided by the resolution voting deadline at the end of February, Pools are set for a busy month of football with seven matches scheduled to take place.

Clubs will be voting whether they want the 2020-21 campaign to continue following a failure to secure grant funding from the Government.

In the meantime, they are expected to play on without funding or clarity as to whether the campaign will continue beyond the end of the month.

Several National League North and South clubs have suggested they will refuse to go ahead with games until adequate funding and testing guarantees are in place.

But Hartlepool will be playing on with long trips and overnight stays at Dover Athletic, Dagenham & Redbridge and Eastleigh planned at a significant cost to the club.

"From a club perspective, there are questions that need answering,” Pools boss Dave Challinor told The Mail.

“If the scenario did occur where the league was cancelled and we’d played seven games and made several long away trips – if I was putting my money in I’d be asking the National League who is going to reimburse that money?

"Those are the questions I’d be asking because all that money would potentially be going to waste.

"We’re out on a limb as a club location wise so that most of our away games are overnight stays and they have to be because otherwise we’re doing five and six hour journeys on the day of a game which makes things difficult.

“From a football perspective, we’ve just got to keep winning games and if we’re only playing for the next month then we want to be in a position where we’ve won as many games as possible so that if points per game were to come into it, we’re right up there.

"Even if it’s a one per-cent chance of that happening then we want to make sure that’s the case.

"From a financial perspective, it’s something that will differ between the divisions because every club is unique in their circumstances.

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