Paul Hartley explains Hartlepool United's cancelled friendly with St Mirren

Hartley was set to take his side to Paisley to face the Scottish Premiership outfit before the fixture was cancelled upon Pools’ return from their warm weather training camp in Portugal.

Hartley has admitted he is short of numbers within his ranks as things stand and having picked up injuries during their training camp in the Algarve, the Pools boss says he couldn’t risk any further injuries ahead of a busy pre-season schedule before the season begins at Walsall later this month.

One of those players to have picked up an injury in Portugal during Pools’ 2-0 defeat to Hibernian was midfielder Tom Crawford.

Crawford went off clutching his lower arm before being taken to hospital while full-back Jamie Sterry was also forced off late in the game.

And with Pools still light in terms of numbers, the decision was made to cancel the friendly in advance.

“It was a game we put in late. We’ve had one or two injuries and we didn’t want to risk any more people," said Hartley.

"I think if you look at our schedule, we’ve got a lot of games before that first game against Walsall - a lot of tough games. So we just felt with a couple of the injuries we do have we didn’t want to risk any more people."

Meanwhile, Pools’ League Two fixtures with Bradford City at the Suit Direct Stadium and Harrogate Town at the Envirovent Stadium have been brought forward to 12.30pm kick-offs instead of their original 3pm slot.