Ex-Celtic defender believes 'the floodgates will open' for Hartlepool United after highlighting unbeaten run

Pools are on the road again in League Two this weekend after it was confirmed their fixture with Sutton would go ahead despite uncertainty surrounding certain fixtures in and around the capital ahead of the funeral of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Paul Hartley’s side head to the VBS Community Stadium still in search of their first three points of the season after seeing a lead pegged back late in the game for the second successive week against Crewe.

But former Celtic defender Paterson, who is enjoying a run in the starting line-up after performing well in Pools’ only win of the season against Harrogate Town in the Papa Johns Trophy, believes his side have what it takes to find a solution to their late lapses in games.

“It's frustrating. It feels more like a loss than a point gained,” Paterson said of the draw with Crewe.

“But I think with our performance, especially in the first half, and the amount of chances that we created, we felt we deserved more from the game.

“It’s the last five minutes again where we just couldn’t hold onto the win, so it’s something we need to look at and improve on.

“As a group I'd like to think we’ve got the mental capacity to bounce back. I'm pretty confident we will, and we’ll come out the traps flying on Saturday. That’s the goal.”

And Paterson is keen to ensure Pools consider the positives from recent weeks, despite being denied back-to-back wins in the league, by insisting a three-match unbeaten run provides a platform for the squad to build on.

“If you look at the positives, we’re unbeaten in three games now with one win and two draws.

“So you can look at it a positive way, but its the manner in which we’ve lost the goals, and the timing that we’ve lost them, which makes it feel more negative than positive.

“But there’s always two ways to look at it and the positives are we’re on an unbeaten run now so we hope to keep the unbeaten streak going at the weekend with a win instead of a draw.”

Paterson added on Pools’ mentality as their search for a first league win continues at Sutton: “It’s not something we’re thinking about all the time, but I think once that’s out the way the floodgates will open.

“Once we get that winning feeling in the league it will come naturally and hopefully that's just a snowball effect and more and more wins come after that.

“It’s a game we’re hoping to get the first league win out the way with so we can continue getting wins. It feels like that first one is going to be crucial, but we’re all hopeful and quite confident it will be Saturday.

"We feel like its all starting to come together, it’s just those slight lapses in concentration that have cost us in the last two games. So, hopefully, if we can eradicate them it will result in some good results.”