Pools face wait to get stars back
HARTLEPOOL United manager John Askey has warned he still faces a wait to welcome back several of his injured players as he prepares for a hectic festive period.
Pools will face a tricky looking away day at Wealdstone today before heading into a double header with Oldham Athletic that gets underway when the Latics visit the Suit Direct Stadium on Boxing Day.
The heavy schedule will put further strain on a Pools squad that has been delivered several blows on the injury front throughout the first half of the season.
Askey has been forced the chop and change his starting lineup on a consistent basis as he contends with key absentees but did have the rare luxury of naming the same side in consecutive fixtures last weekend as his side fell to a narrow defeat against National League leaders Chesterfield.
Askey admitted he was looking forward to edging close towards being at full-strength but stressed he will have to be patient as several key players work their way back to full fitness.
He said: “It’s going to be January before we start getting those players back.
“There’s about four or five of them, isn’t there? Obviously when they do come back in the squad starts to look better but it still takes time for them to bed back in.
“It’s inevitable with the amount of games we’ve got (we will pick up more injuries). But that’s where we’ve got to try and look at using the squad,”
Pools are still without the services of defensive trio Alex Lacey, Charlie Seaman and Luke Hendrie - and the game will come too soon for Tom Crawford.