Graeme Lee has this message for his Hartlepool United players ahead of return to League Two with Leyton Orient visit

Pools took the League One leaders the distance after a pulsating 2-2 draw before agonisingly missing out on a trip to Wembley when losing on penalties.

But Lee has insisted his side must not get caught up by the disappointment of their shootout heartache and take the positives from their performance into the weekend’s visit of Leyton Orient.

“The performance was there, it's just about not dwelling on the result,” Lee told The Mail.

“The effort that we gave out on that pitch against the top team in League One was immense. Performance-wise we’ve got to take so much from that.

“We came in yesterday and tried to clear the lads and got them smiling again to try and get the focus back on Saturday’s game against Leyton Orient.

“The best thing to do after that is to go and put another performance on and get that out of the system.

“We gave everything the other night but mentally we’ve got to be back on the game.

“I know we went against the top of League One but the application has to be the same going up against Leyton Orient.

“It's a chance for us to go and get a massive three points in the league but we have to apply ourselves in the right way and play at the same intensity.”

Pools welcome the team bottom of the form guide to the Suit Direct Stadium looking to avenge a 5-0 hammering in the reverse fixture back in October in what proved to be former manager Dave Challinor’s final game in charge of the club.

And Lee is confident both Luke Molyneux and Tom Crawford, who missed their crucial spot kicks in Wednesday's semi-final defeat, will be able to bounce back and continue their fine form in the league.

Lee suggested after the defeat to Rotherham he did not say much to both Molyneux and Crawford knowing whatever he did would not have made much of an impact.

But the Pools boss has since put his arm around both and insists it’s now about how his players respond against the O’s.

“They’re both playing well,” Lee told The Mail.

“The best players in the world miss penalties. It's happened, we can’t dwell on it. It’s about what we do on Saturday now.

Lee added: “We had a light-hearted chat. It was just trying to make them feel like no-one is blaming them.

“I just said to Luke ‘what did you go that side for’ and he laughed and said ‘I know, I never go that side.’

“But that’s football, it’s how it works. It didn’t work in our favour this time, it did against Charlton.

“You’re gutted in the sense of what could have been, but you have to take the positives of the performance and the night and the occasion.

“Everything about it probably gives you a bit more hunger. We want more of that. We want more of them of nights.

“You want to give the club more of that and you want to give the fans more of that. It's a massive foundation for us to build on.”

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