HARTLEPOOL will be looking to equal their longest run of consecutive home victories for more than nine years when York City travel to the Victoria Ground tomorrow.

The north-east outfit are bidding for a fourth straight triumph on their own soil, which will match their best sequence since rattling off nine in a row in 2006/07 when the likes of ex-Minstermen Darren Williams, Lee Bullock, Mark Tinkler, Michael Procter and Michael Maidens featured during a League Two promotion campaign.

Current boss Craig Hignett also played a very minor role that season with two substitute outings but the former Middlesbrough striker has been a more significant figure in transforming the club's fortunes this term.

Since taking over the reins from Ronnie Moore on February 10, Hignett's Hartlepool have taken more points than any side in the division other than champions-elect Northampton and fellow promotion hopefuls Accrington Stanley and Bristol Rovers.

That form has also seen last season's strugglers move from a position one place and four points above the drop zone to a safe perch - 16th in the standings and a whopping 18 points clear of the bottom two.

The ex-Middlesbrough and Barnsley striker's win percentage during 15 games at the helm stands at 46.7 per cent, although he is expected to still be without top-scorer Billy Paynter for the Minstermen clash.

Paynter, 31, has netted 15 times and had scored three in as many outings before picking up a hamstring strain during a 1-0 defeat at his former club Carlisle earlier this month.

In his absence, on-loan Peterborough striker Luke James, who ended a 33-game drought with his first goal of the season during Saturday's 5-2 win at Morecambe, will continue to deputise as the central striker in Hignett's 4-3-3 formation.

Jake Carroll, meanwhile, is likely to return at left back having missed the 1-0 midweek defeat at Notts County due to a head injury.

Former York City youth-team defender Michael Duckworth filled in for Carroll at Meadow Lane, making his first appearance for four months due to groin problems.

Other changes could see attacker Nathan Thomas back from a chest infection, while ex-Middlesbrough centre-half Matthew Bates has recovered from a thigh strain and will be challenging 36-year-old veteran Rob Jones for a first XI slot.

But fellow defender Harry Worley remains sidelined following ankle surgery.

Hartlepool (probable): Carson, Magnay, Bates, Jackson, Carroll, Hawkins, Featherstone, Woods, Gray, James, Thomas.