Graeme Lee comments on the influence of former Newcastle United defender and ex-Blackpool man in Hartlepool United's thrilling victory over Newport County

Pools came from behind on the night, before being pegged back in the second half and then going on to grab a dramatic winner, to seal all three points against a Newport side who were aiming for a fourth straight win.

And a lot of that was down to defenders Sterry and Ferguson who played a role in all three goals on the night.

Sterry got Pools level at Rodney Parade 10 minutes before the break with an excellent piece of skill when receiving Nicky Featherstone’s pass to beat Scot Bennett in the area before firing beyond Joe Day.

And on the opposite side, Ferguson played his part soon after when dribbling beyond a number of Newport players into the box before finding Luke Molyneux who swept home in trademark style to give Pools the lead.

Ferguson would later deliver the cross for Neill Byrne who headed the winner as Lee commented on the two players he switched into a wing-back role in South Wales to combat the threat of James Rowberry’s side.

“They were a big part of tonight’s performance, how they had to be aggressive and how they had to make forward runs,” explained Lee.

“If you’re playing narrow, those wing-backs have to be up and down and it wasn’t just out of possession, I wanted them to get up and go again.

“I think they were fed up with me shouting run, run, run when they got the ball because we knew the switch was on all day long and getting them two on the ball, who have quality in those areas, could hurt them.

“I said to them both going out into the game ‘you two score me the goals tonight, you’re the match winners.’

“So at half-time one of them had done it, but I’ll let Fergie off because he got the assists for us. They were a massive part of the game for us.”

And Lee admitted the final 10 minutes of the first half, which saw Sterry and Ferguson make their impact on the game with their moments of inspiration, even made him scribble out his half-time notes after the Pools boss was ready to question the flick which Sterry produced before scoring the equaliser.

“He’s just told me ‘I’ve got that in my locker gaffer’ and he obviously has,” said Lee.

“I was starting to get a little bit frustrated because I think Omar tried a little flick and I was just thinking ‘keep things simple’ but it gets played into Jamie in that area and he does that and it's just fantastic.

“I wrote notes for half-time about Fergie to stop dribbling too much with the ball and to use his passing range and then he goes and dribbles past two or three and sets one up so I scribbled that out as well.

“Football, you have your ideas but then moments in the game change the games and that moment of magic from Jamie and Ferige’s two assists were fantastic.”

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