STUART Parnaby, the Hartlepool United defender, has been ruled out for the season after undergoing knee surgery last week.

Signed in the summer by former boss Colin Cooper after he was freed by Middlesbrough, Parnaby has made only five appearances. 

His last outing was the 5-1 defeat at Northampton in mid-September when he was replaced with 13 minutes remaining.

Parnaby, 32, had already missed two chunks of games with separate hamstring injuries, before the knee problem. 

Pools have today signed Italian centre-half Matteo Lanzoni on loan from Cambridge. The 26-year-old has previously been at Oldham where he played under current Pools boss and then Oldham coach Paul Murray.