BEN CLARK spent his youth at Manchester United's centre of excellence before making sporadic appearances during four years as a professional at Sunderland.

But, after Hartlepool United manager Neale Cooper pulled off a major coup by the club's standards with Clark's signature earlier this month, the player will be given his first chance to stake a claim for a regular place at Victoria Park this afternoon.

With disgruntled defender Michael Nelson - who asked for a transfer last week - suspended for today's visit of Port Vale, Clark, who made his debut as a substitute at Peterborough seven days ago, has the chance to impress.

Cooper had been tracking the 21-year-old, who made three starts for Mick McCarthy's men this season, for months and was delighted to pinch the player on a free transfer from North-East neighbours Sunderland.

The Pool boss is not too concerned with why things turned sour for Clark at the Black Cats, only concentrating on what he will offer his new club in their League One campaign.

"I haven't talked to Ben about what went wrong at Sunderland, all we are thinking about now is Hartlepool," said Cooper. "He started Sunderland's first game in August at Coventry and all I heard was good reports about him.

"I don't know why he never kept his place after that. But we are delighted to have him here now. He comes to us with a great pedigree. He got a number of caps at different youth levels for England and he's a great signing for us.

"We have got him here on a three-year deal and we are really pleased. From what we have seen of him so far he brings more quality to us.

"He is a good ball player and he can play in midfield (as he did at Peterborough), right-back or centre-back and in the four weeks he has been training with us we know he will do well."

Clark's home debut comes at a time when Hartlepool aim to preserve their impressive unbeaten run at Victoria Park and make sure they do not slip off the play-off place too much.

Cooper's side are six points adrift of the top six having been let down on their travels - having won just one of their away days.

Today's opponents Port Vale have similar problems when they play outside the Potteries but the Hartlepool manager said: "It is good to be back on home soil. Our fans have been terrific and we have to make sure we continue our run against Port Vale.

"I know we have a good record but we can't be complacent and we never are at this club. We never have been in my years here and we never will be.

"But we do want to make sure we come back from last Saturday's defeat at Peterborough so that we don't let the gap between us and the play-offs disappear.

"Last year (when they missed out on a trip to the Millenium Stadium by losing to Bristol City) was great but we have to remember we have a small squad in the division and we have to remember we are a small club with great fans."

Cooper has a doubt over striker Adam Boyd's fitness after the club's top-scorer suffered a knock on the knee last weekend. That means Eifion Williams and Joel Porter could start alongside each other.

Neither forward has been prolific in front of goal this season. Porter has three to his name, the last of which came on October 2, while Williams, with 14 last term, has not scored in the league since August 30's win over Colchester.

But Cooper, who has Ritchie Humphreys set to make his 150th consecutive game for the club after declaring himself fit from stitches under his eye, said: "It's not goalscoring that's been a problem for us, though. It's been conceding. We know we have the strikers who can find the net and they will."

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