Hartlepool United 1 Accrington 2: Second Stanley goal was a killer says Adam Jackson

Pools were sunk 2-1 by the in-form Lancashire side who climbed to second spot in League Two after stretching their unbeaten run to nine matches.

Craig Hignett’s side were outplayed in the first half but Jackson believes if they had gone into the break at 1-1 the second 45 minutes could have been a different story.

As it was, Pools conceded the winner in first-half stoppage time when midfielder Tariqe Fosu put away the rebound after a Josh Windass cross-shot had hit Trevor Carson’s far post.

“When we had it at 1-1 we should have killed the game and given ourselves a chance to re-group,” said Jackson.

“We were all over the place, we were too spread out and needed to be tighter.

“We did not have that shape we’ve had when we’ve been hard to beat.

“Instead of pressing as groups, we were pressing individually and that left gaps.

“I don’t think there was a lot in it in the second half, if we’d have had a break, a bit of a rub of the green, we might have got a draw out of it.

“We had a lot of the ball, but we just did not have that killer pass or cross we didn’t quite have.”

Jackson who had one of the few Pools chances on the night when he shot straight at the keeper from long range, said the side would look to bounce back at Oxford on Saturday.

“We have to go there and start brighter than we did against Accrington,” he said. “If we do we can get a result.”