THAT was the best yet.
Those were the words of John Hughes today as he reflected on last night’s scintillating 3-0 win over Crewe Alexandra.
It is a result which is sure to put the Pools boss at the forefront of the running for February’s manager-of-the-month prize, not that he’s interested in such recognition.
Instead, Hughes has lauded the efforts of his players as they extended the club’s unbeaten run to seven matches thanks to goals from Charlie Wyke, Jonathan Franks and Andy Monkhouse.
“That is fundamentally the best we’ve played,” the Scot told SportMail as he reflected on the sixth victory of his reign.
“It’s all positives right across the park.
“You get all of these boys together on the top of their game and I tell you, they’re not a bad team.
“Manager of the month? It’s immaterial – it’s nothing to do with me.
“If you’re giving any award out then it should go into that dressing-room for them players.
“Every one of them to a man has taken on board what we’re trying to do.
“I’m just helping them along, they deserve all of the credit.”
He went on: “Last night was brilliant.
“Our shape was good, we won our tackles, won our headers and it gave us the platform to go and play our football.
“When you see the Vic like that it makes all of the hard work worthwhile.
“The effort and commitment of the whole team was there, they are all on top form.
“There are no passengers in there right now.”
The joy of the victory over The Railwaymen was tempered slightly by results elsewhere, the three teams directly above Pools – Bury, Colchester United and Scunthorpe United – all winning.
Hughes, though, still insists his side can only keep their own house in order.
“The other results don’t interest me,” he said, Pools now within six points of safety.
“I know it’s an old cliché but we can only look after ourselves.
“What happens after that will happen.
“What the boys have done since Christmas has been remarkable.
“Who knows how it will go?
“All we can do is give ourselves a chance and we’re doing that.”
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