BEN KILLIP will benefit from his stint out of the Hartlepool United side according to manager Dave Challinor.

The goalkeeper was omitted from the side after a handling mistake led to a Barrow goal in the 2-2 draw at Victoria Park on December 28.

Eight games later he was restored and kept a clean sheet as Pools beat Aldershot 2-0 on Saturday.

Mitch Beeney replaced Killip during that spell, but the non-contract goalkeeper failed to make a big impression and Challinor had no qualms about putting Killip back in.

After Dimi Konstantopoulos was given a chance to make his mark before Killip was dropped, only to walk away after a long spell training with his former club, it’s been no secret that Challinor is seeking to add to his goalkeeping options.

Gregor Zabet, who has recently left Swansea and been on loan at Oldham, is currently training with Pools.

Challinor said: “All decisions are tough ones – sometimes they are gut feelings. We took Ben out of the spotlight a bit and he’s made some decisions which have resulted in us conceding goals and he maybe needed to look from the outside.

“As a game, Saturday was a nice one to come back and be reintroduced. A clean sheet is good and takes us into an important game at Solihull next week when he will be tested in a different way.

“A clean sheet won’t do anyone harm and keeping a clean sheet gives us a chance of winning. We created a lot of chances, but one criticism is we didn’t take them.’’

He added: “Mitch is still here, nothing has changed from that perspective. He’s on non contract terms and we will discuss the decision. Ben has trained well, used it in the right manner and challenged himself to get back in.

“We have players all over the pitch who need to do that and we need the goalkeepers to do that.’’