TWO tough cup draws already this season and Hartlepool United boss Ronnie Moore has bemoaned his side’s luck.

Pools have tonight been paired with League One Fleetwood Town in the Capital One Cup, while they have a home tie in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against Sheffield United.

Moore said: “Sheffield United in the JPT – we put the (Wembley) suits back! Cups have been a nightmare – Fleetwood and then Sheffield United. I’d love a good run, but the JPT doesn’t come alive until the last four. How can you refuse the chance of Wembley? We want to go as far as we can.’’

This evening’s opponents started the campaign with a home draw against Southend, as Pools beat Morecambe 2-0.

Moore was encouraged by the performance at Victoria Park, which came on the back of both Sam Collins and himself signing new contracts to remain at the club.

“New contracts here is good for me and Sam,’’ he said. “It was offered, it’s no relief to sign it, I was happy to have the opportunity and me and Sam are here a bit longer now hopefully.

“All the staff are settled, the squad is coming together and the big thing is calming everyone down. We’ve had a win, and move onto Fleetwood which is a tough one.’’

Pools are likely to go with a 3-5-2 formation this evening, after opting for 4-3-3 at the weekend. Pools worked throughout pre-season with three at the back and with tonight’s opponents fielding that set-up, Moore hinted at the same, with Matthew Bates starting in the back line.

“Our link-up play was good at the weekend, we didn’t shoot enough at times, but those little balls from Michael Woods into the front men was entertaining,’’ he reflected.

“If you can be disappointed when you win it’s how deep we sat.

“We played 4-3-3, but had players injured. Batesy had an injection in his knee, we know what they play like and we shocked then in the way we played.

“It shows we can play different ways.

“Batesy will be OK, but the others will be missing. Three up front worked at the weekend and it shows we can do it. We’ve had half an hour in training on Friday with it and you could see the players need to work on it and little things will help us in training.’’

Pools will be without Trevor Carson, Brad Walker and Dan Jones tonight. The trio missed out at the weekend, and goalkeeper Carson is facing around a month out.

“Trevor has a hairline fracture of a toe. He’s dived one way, stuck his leg out to save and it’s happened,’’ said Moore. “He could be two or three weeks now, but it’s hard for me to say to Adam he’s out after a performance like that.

“Dan has had an injection , been scanned and X-rayed and will have an injection to make him available next weekend.

“Brad in training, he’s needed an injection in his ankle, felt good and then put in a block tackle and came off worse. He could be seven days.

“I tried to bring three centre backs in last week, which didn’t happen. We are short there right now, Batesy can fill in there, but he’s unfortunate we changed late on to react to their formation with three up top.

“Fleetwood are 3-5-2 Tuesday so see what happens.’’

Pools skipper Billy Paynter set the standard at the weekend, scoring and leading the forward line alongside Rakish Bingham and Scott Fenwick.

The striker admitted tonight’s game will provide a different test: "Tuesday is another tough game, but you want that.

"To challenge yourself and they have made some good signings and they will be up there this season.

"We just have to worry about ourselves and play how we want to be playing.

"We have a real togetherness and we want to be doing things together and having a laugh and enjoying training. When the dressing room is scattered and you have people in corners, it is a waste of time.’’

Pools: Bartlett; Worley, Bates, Harrison; Duckworth, Featherstone, Woods, Magnay, Carroll; Payter, Bingham.