Both Behan and Brown are currently unavailable for Pools

Hartlepool director of sport Chris Turner will consider bringing in extra strikers in January after James Brown and Denis Behan picked up injuries.

Brown will be out for 12 weeks after surgery on a knee problem while Behan is also out until January.

"We saw last season when James was out and never replaced, it coincided with a freefall," Turner told BBC Tees.

"We'll assess it in January because we can't be scratching around for strikers like we did last season."

Pools battled against relegation last season, escaping the drop on the final weekend, and were forced to bring in a string of loan players such as Kevin Kyle, Keigan Parker and Liam Henderson to bolster his side.

Turner does have cover in the shape of Arnar Bjornsson, who scored against Carlisle on Tuesday, as well as Adam Boyd who returned to the club during the summer - while Colin Larkin, Billy Greulich and Leon McSweeney can all be pressed into forward duties if required.

And Turner, though disappointed with the players' absence, has confidence in his back-up players to do the job.

"That's life, the injury situation gives others a chance to come in and do a job, we can't keep bleating on about it, we've got to get on about it," he said.

"If Rooney and Berbatov were missing for Man United, or Fernando Torres for Liverpool, Behan and Brown are our equivalent at our level."

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