ANY hopes Hartlepool United had of keeping Andy Monkhouse at Victoria Park have ended.

The winger, on loan from Swindon Town, is due to play his last game for the club at Bury tomorrow. Pools boss Danny Wilson wanted to extend the arrangement, but Swindon chief Paul Sturrock is reluctant to let Monkhouse boost one of his promotion rivals - unless Pools are prepared to pay.

Wilson last night admitted: "I'd like to thank Andy for the hard work he's put in here and his good performances.

"Hopefully he can keep up his good record by signing off with another winning display this weekend."

Monkhouse has won each of his four games for Pools and wants to sign off with a fifth at Gigg Lane.

The former Rotherham winger, in 14 appearances this season, has yet to be on the losing side.

From the first day of the season, when he was part of the Swindon team which won at Pools, to last week when Pools beat Rochdale, he hasn't lost in League Two.

"I haven't lost a game this season. I didn't really want to say anything because some day it is going to come back and bite me,'' he admitted.

"It's just worked out that way, so hopefully I can carry that on.

"I don't want to lose at Bury, I want to keep up my record of not being on a losing team. It will probably be a similar game to Rochdale but I think the lads have shown everyone that if you have to grind out a result we can do that, so we can go there full of confidence.''

While Pools and the Robins may be challenging for a top three place come May, it wouldn't surprise Monkhouse one bit.

He said: "I think Hartlepool and Swindon are similar. Both need to be in a higher league and I honestly think that both of them will probably go up.

"Hartlepool are like Swindon, it's the same reason why I went there - a big club in the lower leagues who should be higher up."