Graeme Lee had a surprise admission about Hartlepool United's performance in Crawley Town win

Pools rode their luck in the early stages of the game as the home side were twice denied by the frame of the goal when George Francomb’s header looped onto the top of Ben Killip’s bar before Jack Powell thundered a freekick from range off the angle of post and bar.

Lee’s side looked sluggish as though a third game in a week, coupled with the long distance travelling to Exeter City and Crystal Palace in recent weeks, had taken its toll.

But Pools burst into life when Tom Crawford lofted a neat ball over the Crawley defence for Joe Grey to run onto but the teenager was denied by Glenn Morris.

It was the foothold Pools needed as they grew into the first half and began to dictate play before being rewarded five minutes from the break when Omar Bogle curled nicely into the far corner beyond the outstretched Morris.

“It feels very nice. It’s all about the win which I’ve said to them at the end of the game but I’m disappointed with the performance. The way we started wasn’t acceptable,” said Lee.

“We invited them on to us. Ben has made a fantastic save and they’ve hit the woodwork a couple of times and you can’t start like that because other teams will punish you and it could have been like that today.

“But we came into it and then we started showing how we can hurt them with a fantastic goal and then we had something at half time to fight for.

“I had a bit of a go at them at half time, it wasn’t an acceptable performance. We lacked the energy and the spark.”

Despite Lee feeling his side were lacking, they were able to show their resilience in the second half as they held firm to deny some strong Crawley pressure to seal just a second away win of the season.

The result sees Pools move 11 points clear of the relegation zone and to within 11 points of the League Two play-off places.

But despite the result, Lee is hoping his side can return to the level of performance he has seen in recent weeks after admitting his players looked out of sorts in the run up to this fixture.

“You strive and you want the perfect performance and to win every week but I know you don’t get that. But consistency is what I want to see in players,” said Lee.

“I went with the same team from the other night because they performed so you’re expecting the same consistency.

“But I just didn’t think we approached the game in the right way. I felt we were a bit sloppy in training the day before and we seemed to take that into the game and we didn’t start right, but the pleasing thing is we came back into it.

“In the second half we invited the pressure on but we grinded it out. The lads fought for it.

“Overall the performance I'm not happy with but the win I'm delighted with, I’ll take 1-0’s all day long.”

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