COLIN COOPER hoped to have added to his Hartlepool United squad ahead of the weekend draw with Tranmere – and while two deals fell through, he will keep on working at boosting his options.

The Pools boss wanted a couple of new recruits in once the emergency loan transfer window opened, only for him to suffer frustration.

“Again we keep trying and the couple we felt we would get have fallen away at the last minute. So we keep making calls and keep trying and see what happens,’’ he said ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Northampton and Saturday’s game at Plymouth.

“If it doesn’t happen, then we make sure the players here are ready for a long, hard week.

“The most important thing is to have the belief and confidence to go there to both games and compete. Can we go one better than we did at Northampton last year.’’

He added: “The loan deals, we felt were in place but didn’t happen. It’s life. Deals might look as if they are progressing and going along and then if it doesn’t happen you move on.’’

Pools could have Stuart Parnaby back in contention tomorrow night. The former Middlesbrough man hobbled off in the first half of the win over Shrewsbury nine days ago.

Both he and Michael Duckworth suffered hamstring problems, and while Parnaby is ready to return, Duckworth could be out for another week.

“Michael is on the move, but it’s a difficult one to say when he could be ready,’’ said Cooper.

“Stuart was more to do with his nerve than his hamstring, so we hope to get him back on Monday and see how he feels.

“Physically he is fine, Buster (Gallagher, physio) has sorted him out. But the difficulty with neural is that it feels like a pull, when it could be a twinge, something catching and we hope to get him involved on Tuesday.

“Michael will be touch and go for the weekend. He’s progressed well this week and let’s see where he is.

“We are alright in there. The one thing we didn’t have on Saturday was to get in front for an extra boost – do that and people can puff their chest out.

“I said to the players, it looked like a war of attrition to get to the end of the game and Rob (Edwards) says the same. They went away last week and lost at Accrington – they didn’t want to lose again.’’