Hartlepool United manager Darren Sarll is set to field a team comprising both first-team players and trialists for Saturday’s match against West Auckland Town.
Pools are intensifying their pre-season preparations following a strong start last weekend when a side filled with trialists and youth team players defeated FC Hartlepool 8-1.
Several of those trialists impressed Sarll, who confirmed that some had been training with the first team throughout the week and are set to participate in tomorrow’s game.
Additionally, this match will provide an opportunity to observe some first-team squad members who did not feature against FC Hartlepool. Defender Dan Dodds, who has been sidelined for over 10 months due to injury, is among those expected to play.
“We’ll see a mix of both,” Sarll said. “We’ll see the players that we feel are physically at the level to start playing competitively, and we will see some of the younger pros.”
“We haven’t planned on taking any of the under-18s as they are still in the early stages of their pre-season training,” Sarll explained.
“I met with the youth team yesterday, just to introduce myself and welcome them to the football club, along with Ian McGuckin, who is doing a fabulous job.
“Then we’ll see some of the trialists from last week.
“We’ve had quite a few of them in this week, and it’s kind of a filtering process.
“When you watch, for example, the game last Saturday, you form an impression and make an assessment.
“Then you see them in your environment, where wide players are playing against Dodds, Stephenson, and Ferguson, and full-backs are coming up against Grey, Charman, and Campbell.
“We’re at the point where we’ve filtered it quite heavily down to, I think, four outfield players and a goalkeeper, so five in total.
“We should see them, hopefully, tomorrow.”
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