Matthew Bates reveals why Jake Cassidy was absent at Dagenham and gives Luke Williams fitness update

And the manager has also given an update on the fitness of new boy Luke Williams, who had to watch the Victoria Park win from the stands this weekend.

"It was a selection thing. There is no injury," said Bates, ahead of the clash with Chesterfield, Pools' second game in 48 hours.

"I am honest with players and that is all you can be. I tell them exactly why they are not in the squad and we move on.

"The lads who played and won deserve a start but it is a balancing act.

"We had the 11 and five on the bench and I decided to leave Jake at home. There is nothing that has happened between us, it was just a decision I had to make."

Meanwhile, Bates has given an update on whether Williams is a part of plans this week, having missed the weekend win with tonsillitis.

"With Luke we brought him down, he had a bit of an illness," said Bates.

"He could have possibly made the bench, but we were not wanting to risk him."

When asked whether the player will make the bench against Chesterfield, Bates said: "Possibly.

"It is a bit of tonsilitis so we have to be careful with it because it can be contagious.

"He was here with the lads celebrating, so he is a part of it."

On the game itself Bates was delighted to see out the final minutes, without any late scares.

"We are absolutely over the moon with the win," said Bates.

"It was a poor first half - we were not happy with it. But we had an honest conversation about the performance in the changing room and it improved in the second half.

"In the end we saw the game out comfortably - which is one of the plus points.

"We have achieved nothing yet, though. We are 12th now but we know we could be better.

"Everyone is beating everyone at this level, apart from Wrexham getting off to a positive start.

"We can only judge how good we are at this level after 10 games."

Daggers' boss Peter Taylor said: "We were really disappointed with the second half.

"We let our levels drop after what was a decent performance in the first 45.

"From our perspective they are two poor goals to concede."