Dave Challinor jokes about bold strategy as Hartlepool United continue perfect start to the season at Victoria Park with 1-0 win over Bristol Rovers

Pools’ remarkable record at Victoria Park continued thanks to Jamie Sterry’s first goal for the club after 70-minutes.

It’s now 18 wins from their last 20 league games on home turf and they’ve won all four matches at The Vic since stepping up into League Two.

And that’s prompted Challinor to joke about a bold strategy for the remainder of the campaign.

“We just said, we’re going to try and win 23 out of 23 here which will get ourselves in the play-offs then just send the kids away from home and see how that goes and save a bit on mileage,” he joked.

“It was a great result but not the prettiest of games. Last week’s performance at Tranmere was miles more meriting of three points than this performance was but for the first time in an awful long time we've been able to grind out a result.

"It’s one we can look back on and say we were a little bit lucky to win.

"It sums football up, we were rubbish compared to last weekend. We got nothing last weekend but three points this weekend so that's what it's all about and we'll absolutely take it.

"It's a huge result for us and a great way to bounce back.

"We were miles off it in the first half and we knew them as a club coming here as a club with a lot of expectation who have struggled so far this season would pose a tough challenge for us.

"They looked like they wanted it more than us and made it a scrap and you've got to stay in that scrap. We did that better in the second half after we changed our shape.

"We had some decent moments and then one break wins us the game and we managed the game really well from that point."

The result sees Pools climb up to fourth in the League Two table with a game in hand on the three teams above them. A win at Sutton on Tuesday night could see them up to second.

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