Dave Challinor praises clinical Hartlepool United in 3-1 Boxing Day win over Halifax Town and gives update on David Ferguson

Pools claimed a third successive home win at Victoria Park as goals from Ryan Johnson, Rhys Oates and Mason Bloomfield saw Challinor’s side move up to third in the table.

While the Pools boss wasn’t overly pleased with his side’s performance, he was delighted with the three points.

“We can play better and have played better and not got the results,” he said.

“Today wasn’t pretty but we found a way and that’s a great trait to have in those high pressure games, particularly toward the back end of the season.

"The conditions weren’t great but to score early was great, I was disappointed with the goal we conceded. I wasn’t overly pleased with the first half in general but second half we found a way to win and that’s the most important thing.

For the second game running Pools opened the scoring in the first seven minutes of the game as Johnson headed in from Nicky Featherstone’s corner. Oates put Pools back in front in the second half with his second goal in as many games before his replacement Bloomfield wrapped things up late on.

“We always want to start games quickly,” Challinor added. “I want my players to be of a mindset where we can go and win games inside 20-minutes. We knew today that we wanted to play with a shape and press them and be on the front foot.

“I’m really pleased to have players at the top end of the pitch scoring goals now. We were punished earlier in the season for not being clinical but we were clinical today.”

The only downside of the afternoon was a potential injury for David Ferguson, who clattered with the post in the first half.

“We lost Fergie today and we’ll have to see how he is,” Challinor continued. "We’ve got a game in 48 hours against a team who haven’t played in a while so there may be changes.

“He’s taken a whack to the shin, he’ll go for an x-ray but we don’t think it’s a break, just badly bruised but it’s a painful one.”

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