Paul Hartley hoping to add to Hartlepool United squad ahead of St Mirren fixture

Hartley watched on as his side suffered a 2-0 defeat in their pre-season opener against Hibernian in Portugal with the Pools boss admitting afterwards he is lacking options in attack as they struggled to test Hibs at all throughout the 90 minute fixture.

Hartley says he is hopeful of new additions to the squad before Pools travel to face St Mirren in their second pre-season game next week, and will be boosted by the finances available from Timi Odusina’s switch to Bradford City, but has re-emphasised the need for any new recruits to fit into the culture both he and assistant Gordon Young are trying to create at the Suit Direct Stadium.

“I’ve got a budget and I’m comfortable with the budget,” Hartley told The Mail.

“We’re not talking millions and millions of pounds here by the way, just so you know that, but it’s a budget I’m comfortable with and that I can work with. It’s how I use it. And that might be loan players, permanent players or whatever.

“There’s a lot of hard work to be done and I know Chris is working hard in the background and is trying to get the right players to us and we obviously know the market in Scotland well.

“We’ve got a lot of good connections down here and contacts between myself and Gordon,” he added.

“Players will come in and hopefully we get the right type of players with a little bit of flair.”