HARTLEPOOL UNITED fear Luke James’ season is over after the groin injury picked up in midweek turned out to be a serious one.

He suffered the problem in Tuesday night’s FA Cup replay against Exeter City and scans have revealed the true extent of the issue.

Now James, forced off just before the hour mark against the Grecians, might not even play again this season because of its nature. One of the muscles on the inside of his thigh has come away from the bone, physio Callum Davidson has revealed.

“We’ll seek advice from a specialist before deciding on the best strategy moving forward and there’s a good chance that he may need surgery but he will be out for a considerable amount of time.”

Dave Challinor, the Hartlepool boss, has played him in every game since taking over last month and he has impressed in the final third.

“I’m gutted for Luke more than anyone,” Challinor told the club website. “I thought he would be an integral part of us being successful between now and the end of the season so it’s really bad news.

“I still think, moving forward, that he’s a player I want to work with and, although this is a disappointing time for him, the important thing now is that we look after him and get him right.

“If that comes before the end of the season then great, but if not then he should know that he’s still a big part of my plans.

“As daft as it sounds, as the door shuts for one player it opens for someone else and we’ve enough here to give people that opportunity.

“We’ll have to make an assessment pretty quickly as to whether we go with what we’ve got or whether we need to add but it’s certainly not given us reason to panic or rush in to anything.

“If things become available in the next day, week or month then we’ll look at where we are.”

Hartlepool play Harrogate in the FA Trophy on Saturday.