Hartlepool United players feel fans' pain - Craig Harrison reveals player anguish at Pools' slide

Harrison and his players were jeered off the park by a large section of the 150 or so fans who made the long trip to East London on Saturday, to see Pools beaten 4-2 by Dagenham & Redbridge.

And despite what many may believe, Harrison says his squad are as angry and frustrated as anyone when things do not go their way.

“The players are gutted,” Harrison said in reference to the mood in the Pools dressing room.

“They care. They feel it.

“They understand the fans travelling all that way. They understand the frustration.”

Harrison’s men managed to get themselves in the game at 1-1 at Victoria Road, but pressed the self-destruct button soon after, conceding three goals in 16 second-half minutes to end any hopes of putting a stop to an winless run which stretches back to November 21.

Mistakes, on the day, proved costly. It is a theme which has underlined the whole of Pools season in the National League.

“It is about confidence,” said Harrison, whose side now sit 17th in the fifth tier, eight points of relegation and 11 off those in the play-offs.

“They are all good players but it is just trying to get as much repetition into them. That way when they are out there they don’t even have to think about their next move in a certain situation, they just do it by nature.

“We have been doing that in training. It is back to basics.”

Harrison, whose side do not have a game until January 20 having been binned from the FA Trophy at the first hurdle by Workington, said: “We need to get better performances.

“The players need to stop the errors.

“We just need to keep cracking on and we will get there.

“It would just be nice to go through a game where no one makes a mistake.”

While the first-team have 11 days before they are next in action, Matthew Bates’ reserves play Doncaster Rovers at the Vic, kick-off 1pm.