MICHAEL Ledger has completed a season-long loan deal at Hartlepool United.

The centre-half has moved from Sunderland, where he has been a regular in the club’s under-23s.

He spent time on loan in Norway with Viking Stavanger last season.

Pools are without defender Liam Donnelly this week as he is on international duty with Northern Ireland under-21s, while Scott Harrison is suffering from a foot injury.

Ledger is in contention for Saturday’s game with Maidstone at Victoria Park – and Pools have knocked admission prices to just £5 for the game.

Chairman Pam Duxbury said: Our fans have had a lot of miles to cover during August and we wanted to show our gratitude.

“We were very pleased to get our first win of the season on Monday and now we want to build on that back at The Vic this weekend so we want as many supporters there as possible to cheer the team on.”