THOMAS Butler yesterday made a successful return to action, after two months on the sidelines.

The winger appeared for an hour in Hartlepool United's 3-2 reserve defeat to Sheffield United, his first action since further damaging a hamstring in the League One draw at Swansea in January.

Butler could come into Paul Stephenson's plans for Saturday's trip to Southend, although the Pool boss hinted he was loathe to rush the former Sunderland man back into action.

Hugh Robertson played the full game and there was also another goal from striker Michael Proctor.

"Tommy did well - I was planning to give him 45 minutes, but he looked strong and he said he felt OK, so we kept him going for an hour,'' said Stephenson.

"I wanted to see him get the ball higher up the pitch but he showed some good touches. We know he has a lot of qualities.

"He's had a tough time of it and it's nice to have another option available for the first-team. But those lads have been doing well and Tommy can't be rushed back after the injury he has had.

"We've got to look at him in the morning and see how he's reaction is.

"But I don't want to make drastic changes with the team anyway, we've just had a good performance against Barnsley, when we could easily have won.

"There were one or two decent performances today, but also one or two poor performances if we are being honest.

"I was delighted with Michael Proctor - his hold up play was much better and that's something we have been working on.''

On-trial Sunderland midfielder Kyle Anderson was also on target, levelling the scores with a close-range header, but Pool lost the game in the closing minutes, when Carl Jones left a back pass short of keeper Tony Davidson.

Robertson almost levelled in injury time but his free-kick from 25 yards was pushed out of the top corner.

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