Why Hartlepool United midfielder Gavan Holohan could return from injury sooner than scan results suggest

Holohan has missed the last two matches for Pools and has been for a scan which has suggested his adductor injury is worse than initially expected.

But manager Dave Challinor is taking those results with a pinch of salt as the injury doesn’t seem to be quite as black and white as the scans show.

“We had a scan,” he said. “The scan points towards something a little bit more severe than what we thought and how he’s showing in symptoms doesn’t register with that. It doesn’t mark up to that.

“Rather than looking at a scan and seeing that he’s going to be out for three or four weeks, we’re looking at it and saying the symptoms he’s got don’t really point towards that so rather than take the negative approach and saying he’s going to be out for that long, we’re looking at it on how he’s feeling within himself.

“We hope he’s closer than what that is potentially saying so it’s a day to day thing. More dealing with the symptoms than what a photograph with inside his body is telling us.

“Scans normally give you a differential diagnosis of what’s going on. We go back to Sweens’ [Antony Sweeney’s] one when he was playing.

“He did his hamstring, he went for a scan and was told it was a grade three which is virtually a ruptured hamstring [like Tyler Burey].

"Buster, who was there at the time, said there’s no way that’s a grade three hamstring injury.

“One picture was shown where it looked like a grade three, the other pictures didn’t point towards that.

"You’re always going to look at worse case scenario but it was a grade one, he was out for less than seven days.

“As much as scans can be great as it gives you differential diagnosis to tell you what’s there – everyone is different.

“You can put things in little boxes with a scan but ultimately as a player who feels one thing and their pain tolerance might be completely different to another player so you have to treat things based on players feelings and symptoms.”

A message from the Football Clubs Editor

Our aim is to provide you with the best, most up-to-date and most informative Hartlepool United coverage 365 days a year.

This depth of coverage costs, so to help us maintain the high-quality reporting that you are used to, please consider taking out a subscription to our new sports-only package here.

Your support is much appreciated. Richard Mennear, Football Clubs Editor