Pools Reserves return to action this afternoon when they take on Gateshead at Billingham Town (2pm kick-off).

Micky Barron will oversee the game today and could come face to face with a former colleague at The Vic in Terry Mitchell who left his role as Director of Youth to become Assistant Manager of the Tyneside outfit during the summer.

"I think Terry will be around looking after things alongside Paul Bryson," Barron commented.

"With that in mind, I expect them to try and play football in the same way that the First Team do at Gateshead.

"It will be a big test for our lads but hopefully they can put in a performance and our little bit of extra quality can tell over the ninety minutes."

Ritchie Humphreys is in the starting eleven for the game as he looks to build his match fitness after recovering from knee and Achilles problems.

Fabian Yantorno will also build his fitness following a back strain, while young keeper Liam Mooney will start in the absence of Andy Rafferty who has a hand injury.

"It's good to see Ritchie back involved but I think it's important that he isn't just thrown back in too early," Barron explained.

"He's been out for quite a while and missed the pre season so we have to ease him back in - he got 15 minutes on Tuesday night and hopefully we might be able to get 45 minutes to an hour out of him today."

We'll have a full report on the game here on the Official Website later this afternoon.

Pools: Mooney, Blackford, Bjornsson, Johnson, Hartley, Humphreys, McSweeney, Larkin, Fredriksen, Mackay, Yantorno.
Subs: Greulich, Purvis, Martin, Richards, Snaith.