Paul Hartley comments on Hartlepool United's free agent search

Hartley was left frustrated after the window closed last week having only been able to bring in Barnsley’s Clarke Oduor on a season-long loan after anticipating a number of breakthrough’s before the deadline.

That frustration poured into the fixture with Colchester United where Hartley was only able to include one recognised striker within his squad of 18 players in loanee Jack Hamilton following injuries to Josh Umerah and Mikael Ndjoli.

But the Pools boss insists the club are still working away over potential options to bolster their attacking ranks should they be left short of again over the coming weeks and months.

“We’re still working away to try and get one or two players in,” revealed Hartley.

“At the top end of the pitch we still feel as though we’re a little bit short in that area but it’s not easy to try and get players in.

“There’s not a lot of players available either so then do you just take a player for the sake of it? No, you don’t.

“They’ve got to be the right one. But we’ve got a list of players, we’ll just have to look through it.”

Hartley has remained open with his frustration at times over the summer transfer window, with Pools missing out on several targets across a number of positions, but believes the club will ‘go again’ when it comes to their search.

“It’s the same for probably most managers where you think you’ve got a couple of players coming in the building and then for whatever reason you miss out on them,” said Hartley.

“But then you’ve got to go again and see if there’s anybody else out there and whether they can improve the team and help you.

“Can they make you better? Can they fit into the way you want to play? It just takes somebody to drop in and hopefully you get a good one.

“It’s not new to me. I’ve come across it many times where you think you’ve got players coming in but for whatever reason you don’t get them. That’s part and parcel of the job.”