LUCKLESS Luke Williams has suffered a new injury blow.

The Hartlepool United attacker signed for the club in August, but has yet to appear for Matthew Bates – and he’s been forced to undergo more surgery in the last week.

After undergoing knee surgery at the start of last month, Williams has needed further surgery to correct the issue.

Now Bates plans to have the former Pools loanee and Middlesbrough prospect back early in the new year.

Bates, speaking at this morning’s press conference, revealed: ““He saw the specialist again last Friday. The procedure he had didn’t quite work, so he went under the knife again on Tuesday. He had a staple put in to insert the ligament to the bone and he has been in pain with it – we weren’t sure why he wasn’t progressing.

“Now he’s had the staple removed and he’s had something else done. It’s the same timescale as last time, four weeks from the operation.’’

Williams suffered injury problems last season at Scunthorpe and Bates, who endured five different cruciate knee ligament injuries during his playing days, has every sympathy for the 25-year-old.

“I understand the frustrations of fans, I don’t read social media and the like, but all I can say is that it’s not the lads fault,’’ said Bates.

“He came to the club fit, fully fit and second day of training he took a kick. He is devastated as you can imagine. I’ve been injured myself and I know what it’s like.

“He has phoned me and asked if he can not come to home games because he can’t deal with fans asking about it – he is embarrassed about it. He really is.

“It’s horrendous for the lad – he’s done all he can and is trying to make it better and he’s been in some pain because the staple is still there causing problems. You can imagine the pain he’s been in.

“He had a scan, something was wrong, these things happen in surgery. We hope to be at the bottom of it and he’s doing all he can to be back in four weeks.

“We were unlucky the surgeon was away a week, which delayed his appointment longer than we had liked – that is the sort of luck he has had. But he will get there, be back in the new year.’’