HARTLEPOOL United head for Swindon this morning, with three of their injured players left behind.

Antony Sweeney's infected cut has not healed after he was injured in the loss to Orient on March 15, Neil Austin remains a couple of weeks away from a return with a calf problem and James Brown's ankle injury, another knock suffered in the Orient game, again keeps him out. 

With Andy Monkhouse, Steve Haslam and Evan Horwood playing through injuries and Ryan Donaldson back at Newcastle after a loan spell, Pools' squad is stretched.

Pools have lost four of their last five games and, while sit in mid-table, are desperate to stop the rot and add to their 50-point tally with seven games remaining in League One.

Tomorrow's opponents are on a 17-game winless streak and, after losing at Exeter in midweek, skipper Jon Douglas warned his teammates that League Two is a real threat for next season.

"We know that there are some big games coming up,'' he said. "We need to win most of them, we have the players in the squad who can do that but it is just not happening at the moment. 

"We played well against Huddersfield and Brighton, we were poor against Exeter but we will work on things on the training ground for Saturday and take it from there."