Graeme Lee praises former Newcastle United defender and ex-Blackpool man as Hartlepool United draw with Forest Green Rovers

Pools claimed a solid point at the New Lawn Stadium thanks to Omar Bogle’s fifth goal for the club midway through the second half to cancel out Regan Hendry’s opener.

And despite being up against the League Two leaders, Pools gave a solid account of themselves as they mathematically secured their EFL status.

Lee made several changes to his side for the trip to Gloucestershire as well as a tweak in formation as he reverted to a back five.

There were four changes in total including captain Nicky Featherstone dropping to the bench while Marcus Carver was handed a start in attack.

But, much like the recent success at Newport County, they were changes which worked for Lee in the end.

“We looked at it and what Forest Green have to offer. They’re top of the league so we matched them up a little bit in the formation,” Lee explained to The Mail.

“It was a great challenge for our wing-backs because they’re going against two of the best wing-backs in the league [in Kane Wilson and Nicky Cadden] when you look through all the stats and assists they’ve created and the goals they’ve scored themselves so them two, Fergie and Jamie, had a great challenge and I thought they rose to that challenge well.

“We brought Lidds in and thankfully he gets his head on things, he reads things and he can head it. He was good.

“We brought Bryn back in after we had a little bit of an experiment with him last week with his injury to see if we can rest it and see if he can get through it.

“I still don’t think he’s firing as well as he should be but he’s not training as much as he can at the moment.

“I spoke to Feaths and it was just more about trying to give other people the game time and having a look at different things going forward for the club.”