Will Chris Maguire make his Hartlepool United debut against Sutton United as ex-Newcastle United defender remains a doubt

Maguire is a new signing at the Suit Direct Stadium having joined on a free transfer this week.

The former Sunderland and Sheffield Wednesday player was unavailable for selection as Pools were held to a 1-1 draw with Crewe Alexandra in midweek after a delay in his registration with the club.

But Maguire could be in line for a first appearance under Hartley, providing he can overcome a foot injury according to the Pools boss.

“Hopefully [he’ll be in contention]. We’ll wait and see how he is,” revealed Hartley.

“He’s just got a little bit of a knock on his foot so we need to see how he is and then we can go from there.”

Another player struggling with a foot injury is full-back Sterry.

The former Newcastle United defender has been out of action since the defeat at Leyton Orient last month with what Hartley suggested was bone bruising on the top of his foot, with the 26-year-old only just returning to full training.

“He’ll train today and let's see if he can get through training. Hopefully he will,” Hartley told The Mail on Thursday ahead of the trip to Sutton.

“He’s been doing a little bit of running. But it’s been a bit stop-start for Jamie since we came in, like some of the other players who’ve also missed parts of the season so far.”

Pools will be without captain Nicky Featherstone who, it was revealed, will be out of action for a number of weeks while he deals with an ankle ligament injury, while loan forward Jack Hamilton is also likely to miss the trip to the VBS Community Stadium.

“I don’t use [injuries] as an excuse. We’ve not always had our strongest team on the pitch but you can’t use that as an excuse,” said Hartley.

“We’ve had players missing game by game. I spoke to the guys the other night about who will be missing - obviously Nicky will be missing six or seven weeks, Sterry has been out, so we’ve had players missing at certain moments of the season but it’s part and parcel of having a good squad.”