MIDDLESBROUGH will take on Hartlepool United on the weekend before the start of the 2018-19 season.

A Middlesbrough XI will make the short trip to Victoria Park on Saturday, July 28, seven days before the new Championship season is due to begin.

It will be Boro’s first visit to Hartlepool since July 2014, with the clubs’ last meeting resulting in a 2-0 victory for the Teessiders courtesy of goals from Adam Reach and Bradley Fewster.

This summer’s game will be something of an old-boys reunion, with Pools under the management of former Boro centre-half Matthew Bates. Ex-Boro forward Craig Hignett was recently appointed as Hartlepool’s director of football, with another former Boro player, Ross Turnbull, also part of Pools’ coaching staff.

Ticket information for the game will be announced in due course.