HARTLEPOOL veteran Gary Liddle says the players can't use their shortened pre-season campaign as an excuse for their shortcomings in recent friendlies. 

Pools have recently been on the receiving end to defeat to National League North sides Spennymoor and Gateshead with Moors beating them 1-0 and the Heed coming out 4-1 winners. 

Manager Dave Challinor reportedly didn't go into the changing room to speak to the players at the weekend after the defeat to Gateshead.

“You’d always like a little bit extra (time) and I’m not going to lie away from that really" the 35-year-old told the club website.

“We’ve had a bit of a shorter break but it’s no excuse. Obviously we’ve been looked after through pre-season.

“The lads who have played especially we worked as hard as the lads who didn’t play at Bristol so it’s no excuse that really.

“We wouldn’t have it any other way that we got promoted.

“We’ll look at it on Monday, we’ve obviously got another game at Blyth where a lot needs to change.

“We’ve come off the back of a good season and an unexpected season in terms of promotion.

“We should be going into it with confidence. Obviously there’s no points at stake today, which is always a bonus on that aspect, but at the same time we’ll look at the negatives.

“We’ve lost to Spennymoor and we’ve lost to Gateshead so it never looks good on paper and like I said there is a lot to work on in training."

With Hartlepool's squad looking very thin on the ground, the club are working to bring in fresh faces ahead of the League Two season.

So far Challinor has acquired the services of defenders Neill Byrne and Reagan Ogle, midfielder Martin Smith and striker Olufela Olomola. 

“I think with the incomings, that’s a given. He’s said that openly to you guys (the media), attacking wise but certainly defensively we need to have a look.

“We’ve conceded too many goals in pre-season whether they are friendly games or not, we shouldn’t be conceding the goals we have.

“I know we’ve got new players. I’ve got new players either side of me and it takes a bit of time to gel but to concede the goals we have, obviously as a defender I’m not happy.

“But at the other end as well we certainly need to be creating more chances and putting them in the back of the net again.

“It’s certainly eases the burden at our end.”