NEWPORT County are playing the waiting game to see if their walking wounded can return for Friday’s visit of red-hot Hartlepool United.

The Exiles enjoyed a superb 2-0 win at Accrington on Friday that helped them remain in the League Two play-off places.

However, the victory came at a cost with both goalkeeper Joe Day and right wingback Ryan Jackson helped from the field with first half injuries.

Day has suffered a groin issue and Jackson was taken off as a precaution with a tight hamstring.

They join Andrew Hughes (knee) and Robbie Willmott (thigh) on the sidelines with a festive double-header to look forward to this Easter weekend with the visit of Hartlepool followed by a trip to Exeter on Monday.

And manager Jimmy Dack is hopeful the duo could return for Friday, but won’t risk exacerbating either injury.

“Joe and Jacko have responded well to treatment this week,” he said.

“We are hopeful they will both be fine for Friday but it might come too soon, we will see.

“They came off on Friday because we did not want to make the injuries worse, so we won’t rush them back in until they are ready.

“It’s a case of fingers crossed.”

The Exiles have already explained the situation with Willmott, with physio Adam Roche saying he might not play again this season.

And that could even mean Willmott doesn’t feature for the Exiles again as he’s out of contract at the end of this campaign.

“We need to progress it slowly, but efficiently, we don't want to give him too little to do as he won't progress as quickly as we'd like,” Roche told County’s official website.

“He picked up a grade two strain on his muscle that runs across the top of the thigh; he picked it up against Stevenage about three weeks ago. It's progressed a little bit after Stevenage and it's kept him out of training.

“He's had a couple of set backs, with a grade two tear we'd hope that a player would be back within six weeks of the injury, which obviously takes us up to the end of the season, but Robbie is progressing quite well at the moment, and we're hopeful that he might be back before the end of the season.

“If he's not back before the season ends, if we stay in the play-offs, obviously he'll be available for the play-offs.”

One boost for Newport is the return of Wales U17s star Regan Poole who played three games in seven days for his country in the UEFA Under-17 Championship Elite Round in Russia.

After a 0-0 draw against the hosts in Krasnodar and a 3-2 defeat to Austria, the young Dragons ended the week with a 1-0 win over Iceland.