RONNIE Moore admits David Mirfin was badly missed in his Hartlepool United defence at the weekend.

Mirfin suffered a toe injury in the midweek draw with Accrington and was forced out of the defeat at Luton.

And it was clear how important the Scunthorpe loanee is to his side as they crumbled at Kenilworth Road.

"We hope Mirf isn't long term, his toe is badly bruised,’’ said Moore. “We were going to get an injection but he didn't think he could play even with an injection.

"It needs to settle down now but it will be Wednesday or Thursday before we know."

"We will be in all week, working on the back four just in case Mirf is not right.

"We are just waiting on the toe to settle down, there is no fracture and the ligaments are alright. It is just badly bruised and sore.’’

Pools youthful central defence of Dan Jones and Scott Harrison was troubled throughout by the home attackers and Moore was left to rue a lack of leaders on the pitch.

"We have pros who have been around but not mouthy people, those who are in there screaming and shouting,’’ said Moore.

"People will say Steve McNulty is fat and cannot run but he dominated everything out there.

"It is done now, we have to go again.

"You can see we needed someone like Mirf, every ball that was flicked on he would have had.

"When there are two of them playing too far apart you can get a double decker bus through there.

"We'll be working all week on that.’’

Mirfin’s absence meant a change of plan for Moore, who said: "I was going to play 3-4-3, with the three strikers and rest Franks.

"But with the injury, Batesy has only just come back training so it was too soon to throw him in there.

"And they looked nervous, the two in the middle, they looked raw.

"That was the disappointing thing. As a back four we were like four individuals, too far apart.

"We were all over the place and lucky to get in at 2-0.

"It is not natural for Scott Fenwick out there but he did a really good job there at Tranmere, that was in a three.

"He found it tough against Luton and we took him off because we didn't want to give him too much football and then end up with a thigh strain after his time out.

"Sometimes it works for you and sometimes it doesn’t, against Luton it didn't.’’