HARTLEPOOL UNITED are hopeful that defender Andrew Davies will not need an operation on his injured ankle.

The club’s captain landed awkwardly on his left ankle last weekend and missed Tuesday’s draw at Braintree, and will be out of Saturday’s game with Maidenhead.

Davies was at the club’s training ground this morning for treatment and his ankle is encased a moon boot.

And boss Matthew Bates hopes that the centre-half will only be out for a few more weeks rather than being a long-term casualty.

Speaking at his Thursday morning press conference, Bates said: “Andrew had a scan on Tuesday, the results came back and we need to see a specialist, but we need to get the swelling out first before we really know. Then the specialist will look at the ankle ligaments, there’s so much goes in in an ankle that we need a specialist to see what will happen.

“That’s what we need. We are very hopeful there will be no need for an operation and he will recover with rehab.’’