The Academy have started pre-season last week with both the U19s and U17s Youth Team being put through their paces by the medical and coaching team.

Both teams have played a game each in their first 10 days.

The U17s came up against a strong Peterlee U18s, coming out 2-0 victors with goals from Lupton and Kilic.

The U19s started their pre-season games programme by welcoming Wigan Athletic to Blackhall, drawing a tightly contested game with Foreman scoring for Pools.

Academy Manager, Alex Cross, had the following to say on the academy starting back:

“It’s been brilliant to get back on the pitch and work with the players and staff.

“Seeing all the work that has been put in, with moving the academy back to the town and tweaking the pathway to help aid the development of players, all seems worth it when we have two squads start up, with everyone enjoying representing the club.

“The U17s started well against Peterlee’s U18s, it was made up of first years that, as a collective, did very well under the guidance of Gary Liddle.

“The U19s performed excellently against a strong Category Two side in Wigan Athletic. With a mixture of first, second and third years involved, to go toe to toe with a well-resourced academy that are ahead of us in pre-season was testament to the players who worked hard for each other throughout.”

The Academy continues their pre-season fixtures against Billingham Synthonia on Saturday, ahead of welcoming the Shadow Youth Team, who start training next week.