Aidan is keen to make his mark with regular action for Pools

New signing Aidan Keena has said he swapped Tynecastle for Hartlepool United as he was just ‘desperate to play’ having struggled for minutes at Hearts.

The Irish striker found himself behind a number of more senior strikers during his time there and found breaking through to be a regular starter to be difficult.

Discussing his move to Pools he said: “Hartlepool were interested and it was done pretty quick. I was just looking forward to playing again, obviously I wasn’t getting regular football up there.

“He [Dave Challinor] didn’t really have to say much because I was just desperate to play, he just reassured me I would play and that was enough for me.

“I knew about the club and it didn’t really take much thinking, I just packed my bags and came down.

“I was coming in here hoping to be the main striker anyway and the circumstances have given me the chance to prove myself so nothing has changed there.”

Keena has been enjoying training since he made his move saying: “Training has been good, it's been tough. I’ve only been here a week and I feel fitter already.

“The gaffer loves to get us running and I think we will all benefit from it.

“I think its been good to train a bit more and see what he likes, as long as we are fit and we are flying he’ll be happy with us.

“At Hearts I was training for the sake of it since I wasn’t going to be playing at the weekend but here I’m training with a purpose, it feels like you’ve got a reason to train.”

The 20-year-old made his debut in last week’s 2-2 draw away to Yeovil, he played 85 minutes before being replaced by Niko Muir.

“It was a tough away game against one of the better teams in the league so it was good to get a result. Not much in the way of chances but it was a team effort to get the result.

“Hopefully I can play well, get myself a goal and nail down the position for when others come back.”

Challinor has certainly been really pushing his players in training as he looks to address any potential fitness issues.

He has previously questioned the fitness of his side but has now been making full use of the free weeks on the training ground.