Port Vale will be without midfielder Tom Conlon for the home clash with Hartlepool.

Club captain Conlon was shown two yellow cards in the Valiants’ 1-0 defeat to Walsall in midweek and must now serve a one-game suspension.

Striker Jamie Proctor returned from a hernia problem as a second-half substitute against the Saddlers and will hope to feature more prominently at the weekend.

Fellow forward James Wilson is a long-term absentee with a broken foot.

Gavan Holohan could be in line for a return to Hartlepool’s starting line-up.

The midfielder was back in action after a three-game absence at Swindon in midweek, coming on with 15 minutes to go, and came through that unscathed.

Jamie Sterry serves the second game of a three-match ban following his dismissal in last week’s home defeat to Forest Green.

Midfielder Tom Crawford was handed his first league start for the club in the 3-1 loss to the Robins on Tuesday night and may have done enough to keep his place.