Crawley Town v Hartlepool United: Pools boss Craig Hignett to asses Rob Jones

The giant centre-half missed Tuesday night’s 0-0 draw at Newport County after being struck a blow to the head during last Saturday’s win over Dagenham & Redbridge.

Jones did not appear for the second half against the Daggers and felt too groggy to be included for the trip to Wales.

“We’ll assess him again today, he wasn’t quite ready for Turesday,” said Hignett at his media conference today.

“We’ll have a little look at him and see what he’s like for Saturday.”

Jones is the only doubt, with the exception of right-back Michael Duckworth, who is recovering from a hernia op.

Given the hours spent on the road and the heavy pitch at Newport, Hignett said it was important to manage his players fitness ahead of another long journey to Crawley.

“I think it’s taken its toll and I think the hours spent on a coach is not helpful,” said Hignett.

“We’ve been to Barnet, Bristol and then Newport – we got back at 4am Wednesday morning.

“I have to be careful what we do in training, but that’s all in hand.

“We’ve had a chat with the staff and we know what we’re doing.

“We now have a short trip to Crawley!

“We’ll have a good day today and then it’s all about rest and recovery.

“Yesterday we had a rest day, today won’t be taxing or too long, and tomorrow we’ll do a bit of team shape and how we’re going to play.”