Ben Clark - hernia?

By Charlie Summerbell
July 22 2009

First the good news on Hartlepool United … the pitch at the Vic is looking lush. Unfortunately, most of the rest of the news is bad with pools losing their third pre-season game on the trot and two senior players facing lengthy injury absences as the start of the new season looms closer and closer.

Pools were beaten 2-0at home by a good-looking Sheffield Wednesday, but there was nothing there to suggest we should be waving a white flag just yet.
Wed were the better team, but it’s always difficult to tell what’s going on in these games and while there were some worrying signs in the Pools team, there were some encouraging moments as well.
Keeper Scott Flinders didn’t look at all bad, and the same applies to ex-Darlo right-back Neil Austin. Defender Peter Hartley and midfielder Leon McSweeney were also making home debuts, while former Sunderland left-back Dan Smith operated at left-back on trial.
From what we saw, two out of three ain't bad.
New striker Denis Behan went on as a sub and lookjed very promising, and the same applies to Norwegian midfielder Jon-Andre Fredriksen, who really got stuck in when he went on.
There will be a wide variety of views from those who saw the game, but the overall verdict must be that while Pools are showing promise, there’s a way to go yet.
And just to make sure nobody thought it was going to be easy, experienced pair Ben Clark and Richie Humphreys look like missing the start of the season.
Humphreys has an achilles tendon injury which will keep him out for up to a month, while Clark has a groin injury which could turn out to be a hernia, which will need surgery.
Well, it is Pools we are talking about – you didn’t expect pre-season to go without a hitch did you?