LEE Hughes made a swift return to football on Saturday, but the Oldham striker made little impression.

Signed last week after three years in jail for causing death by dangerous driving, the former £5m man played the full 90 minutes of Pool's 4-1 victory. But he had little impact, squandering his only chance in the second half with the score at 3-1.

From the opening 90 seconds when Micky Nelson twice won commanding headers against the striker, Hughes was always on the edge of the game.

"Hughesy had one little chance, but that was it,'' said boss John Sheridan.

"Michael Ricketts had a slight groin strain. I wasn't going to play Hughesy from the start but he was biting at the bit.

"Everyone thinks Lee can do this or that for us but he needs to get match fit and sharp.

"But he's got a game under his belt now and it won't do him any harm.''

Pools boss Danny Wilson is certain Hughes will, in the weeks to come, make a big impact in League One.

Wilson had warned his players about being affected by Hughes' high-profile return, but said: "We cannot affect that type of hype if the media want to cover it. All we can do is not let it affect our game and it didn't.

"I didn't want to worry about it, but I can tell you now he will score goals in time. He will get better and in footballing terms he will improve, that's for sure.''

Sheridan, meanwhile, was furious with his side's display.

"I'm not happy one little bit with the performance,'' he blasted. "I cannot take anything out of the game.

"We came here and I expected to get something from the game. I'm not going to stand for it.

"No-one looked like they knew each other. I don't think we deserved a thing for the game. I'm going to have a good look at myself because this sort of thing hasn't happened to me before.

"I've got to make some harsh decisions now. "I could talk all day about it - teams don't have to work to score goals against us."