Halifax

Hartlepool United will face an anxious wait to discover the extent of a potentially ‘serious’ injury to star striker Emmanuel Dieseruvwe suffered in the 4-4 draw with Wealdstone.

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe went off injured for Hartlepool United in the draw with Wealdstone

Dieseruvwe was taken off midway through the second half of a pulsating contest at Grosvenor Vale^[1] where John Askey’s side came from 3-0 down to rescue an unlikely point in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Dieseruvwe has been Hartlepool’s main man this season after a summer switch from FC Halifax Town^[2]. The striker has thrived under Askey with 15 goals to already eclipse last season’s total with the Shaymen. And although the striker was not on the scoresheet against Wealdstone^[3], he played a key role in Hartlepool’s fightback when he was involved in Callum Cooke’s goal before assisting Joe Grey for Pools’ second.

But Dieseruvwe could be seen in some discomfort when twisting his knee midway through the second half before being withdrawn. The striker tried to run off the problem on the sideline before he was replaced by Josh Umerah, who went on to score Hartlepool’s third of the game, with Askey hinting it could be bad news for Hartlepool with a potentially serious injury to their talisman.

Hartlepool United will be hoping Josh Umerah can rediscover his form in the absence of Emmanuel Dieseruvwe. Picture by FRANK REID

“Mani has gone down and it looks quite serious. He’s obviously the last one we wanted to go down and get injured,” said Askey.

“It’s his knee, there’s a lot of give in it. Potentially it could be a huge blow to us – he’s been the main man since the start of the season.

“I think I’m at that stage now [with injuries] where I’m just starting to accept things and we just have to keep battling and keep fighting.”

^[4]

With Dieseruvwe set to potentially miss a number of weeks it means there will be an added pressure on Umerah to rediscover his form from last season after joining from Wealdstone. Umerah found the net 15 times in his debut campaign with Pools last year which resulted in plenty of interest in his services over the summer after the club was relegated to the National League.

Pools held firm in their stance over Umerah to keep hold of him but things have not gone accordingly this season with the striker struggling for form as he has found himself behind Dieseruvwe from the off despite a goal on the opening day at Barnet.

But the return to his former stomping ground brought out the kind of display supporters are more used to with Umerah, as his battling endeavour was rewarded with a second goal of the season, with the hope now being the 26-year-old can kick on and take over the goalscoring burden in Dieseruvwe’s likely absence.

“Hopefully Josh will step up to the mark and show what he can do,” said Askey.

“Look back at last year and Josh was the main man, so the fact we’ve got Josh and he scored again can hopefully get his season going for us. It might take something like Mani getting injured to see the best of Josh.”

References

1. ^{^} a pulsating contest at Grosvenor Vale (www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk)
2. ^{^} FC Halifax Town (www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Wealdstone (www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk)
4. ^{^}