Why Dave Challinor believes new Hartlepool United signing Richie Bennett can become a natural strike partner for Luke Armstong

Bennett joined Pools on loan from Stockport last week and scored his first goal for the club after coming off the bench in a 2-2 draw with Boreham Wood.

At 6 ft 4, Bennett’s height and physicality will give Pools a different option as they look to win promotion from the National League.

When asked by the Mail about the forward’s impact, Challinor said: “He certainly made an impact on Monday because of the way the game was and the way that Boreham Wood set up.

“Certainly in the first half the wind was pretty strong and they pressed us to stop us playing so at times we had to miss that press out because it probably wasn’t being held up as much by Luke and by Oatesy (Rhys Oates).

“With him coming on it changed the dynamic and I thought second half them two, Riche and Luke, became a real focal point and allowed us to get up the pitch, lots of territory and put in a second-half performance that was worthy of winning the game.

When asked about the potential partnership between Bennett and Armstrong, who has scored 11 times for Pools this term, Challinor added: “As with anything on a football pitch, partnerships will take a little bit of time to get used to, what people are doing and what their movements might be.

“But what you’ve potentially got is someone who is physically and aerially strong and has really good link up play in terms of being able to drop into pockets.

“Probably the only criticism Richie has had is that he’s maybe not scored enough goals which is sometimes maybe put against him because of the work he does for other peoples’ goals.

“What potentially we’ve got alongside him is a complete sort of box goal scorer in Luke so on paper they should work well together, the first signs were really good.

“If we can add Oatesy in that mix as well and the potential of having all three of them could be a real plus point for us.

“It’s something we’ll continue to work on but the early signs are really promising.”

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