RONNIE MOORE, a former striker himself, can sympathise with Rakish Bingham.

The Hartlepool United boss can see what his striker is going through – and while every front man has a dry spell in front of goal, Moore has every faith in Bingham to come through it.

When he scored in the opening day of the season, capping Pools’ 2-0 win over Morecambe with a crisp and confident finish, Bingham looked the part.

Since then, however, with chances going begging, his confidence has taken a dent. Two games out of the firing line after being troubled by a hamstring strain will come to an end today when he returns to the side against Luton at Victoria Park.

Pools need a positive response following the midweek embarrassment against Bristol Rovers as they were rolled over 3-0.

And Moore is confident Bingham can help his side through it.

“Rakish will be fine, a hamstring left him struggling, but he looks brighter,’’ he said. “He was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders – he can’t find a goal, but that will come.

“It happens to centre-forwards. He puts pressure on himself, but go out there and enjoy it. Don’t take too many touches in front of goal.

“As a goalscorer you tend to have an extra touch when you aren’t scoring – it’s about believing in what you have done in the past.

“He is a scorer, hopefully who will get back scoring soon and I think his pace will put any back four under pressure.’’

Bingham won’t be the only change today. Michael Woods and Carl Magnay are available after suspension and should return to midfield.

Moore has pondered changing from a 4-3-3 set-up to a 4-4-2, but a lack of wingers hampers that option, but he was trying to get new signings in yesterday.

He said: “Woodsy will come back in as well, it’s how we go – 4-4-2 ? 4-3-3? Decisions to make and if we get players in then we will be attack-minded and have a go.

“Luton can play well, but as a team we can stick together and have opportunities.

“We started slow the other night – we all say the right things before the game in the dressing room –but against a Bristol side who travelled up on the day we should have punished them for that alone.

“But we stepped off them and allowed them to play. We didn’t turn them or push up and force them backwards and make them think and wonder and chase us about. You have to put them on the back foot and it doesn’t matter who you play, allow them to get in the comfort zone and it becomes hard.

“Without being long ball and route-one we have to be more direct – we have players who pass it about and want to pass the ball, but it’s all sideways and backwards. Without Woodsy we can’t hurt sides and we have to change the outlook and be more forward thinking.’’

Luton whacked Pools at Kenilworth Road in the third last game of last season. They responded with a win over Exeter to remain in the Football League.

Tuesday against Bristol Rovers was as poor as that Luton show and Moore added: “We hope it’s a bad day at the office to be fair – it was so poor it was untrue. We were poor at Luton last season and this was poor in the way we defended in both games.

“Let’s hope it’s another six months until we get that sort of performance again.

“It’s hard to put your finger on why – we got a result against Cambridge and then Yeovil. On the night to have eight or nine players off their game is worrying.

“We do an awful lot of work in training on possession, but you wouldn’t think that from what we saw. If you can’t pass from A to B you are going to be in trouble and the defending was awful.

“Even a point the other night could have put us in the top seven – with a win we would have been in there – and that’s where we want to be looking and aiming at.

“It would be nice to be comfortable, looking at getting in the top seven, but let’s cut out the silly mistakes.’’