Hartlepool United assistant manager feels poor decision making to blame following disappointing Halifax Town defeat
Hartlepool United assistant manager Gary Liddle felt decision making cost his side during Saturday's disappointing 1-0 defeat at home to Halifax Town.
Pools' fading play-off hopes were dealt a huge blow as they were beaten by one of their direct rivals for a place in the top seven, their second defeat at Victoria Park in the space of a week.
While the home side saw plenty of the ball, fashioned some promising openings and even hit the woodwork when Tyrese Sinclair cannoned a free-kick against the crossbar, Pools failed to score for the 12th time in 36 National League matches.
In the end, the difference was Halifax frontman Will Harris, who scored his 22nd goal of a prolific campaign.
The 25-year-old, who was born in South Shields and spent time on trial at Victoria Park in 2022, was allowed too much time and space to turn before lashing an effort beyond the despairing dive of goalkeeper Nick Hayes with eight minutes of normal time remaining, extending the Shaymen's advantage over Pools to five points.
Since having a penalty saved by George Evans in the reverse fixture back in October, Harris has been in blistering form, scoring 18 goals in his last 20 appearances; Pools, meanwhile, have struggled for goals all season, with no one in their ranks having reached double figures so far this term.
"Having someone who's touching 20 goals this season makes a huge difference, inevitably that's going to have a big impact," Liddle, who was speaking in place of Nicky Featherstone after the Pools boss was sent off following referee Richie Watkins' full-time whistle, said.
"We've got goals in our side, Reidy (Alex Reid) is our highest goalscorer and we know all about what he can do; we've got our own goalscorers.
"I just think there were times when we had plenty of people in goalscoring positions and we didn't quite take the opportunities that we had; that's not in terms of shots, it's in terms of our decision making in and around the box, whether it's a cross or a pass.
"It's something we obviously need to work on, I don't quite feel our attacking play has been there over the last couple of games. It's something to look at going into the next game against Truro.
"I felt the game seemed really wide open in the second half, especially through the middle of the pitch. We obviously played a 4-3-3 and in the first half, I felt like we were really tight within our formation and Halifax struggled to play through us; ultimately, I felt like we had a good hold on the game.
"For some reason, it opened up a lot more than we would have liked in the second half and Halifax, in their pretty rigid 3-4-2-1 formation, started to find gaps to capitalise through the central areas. It's a disappointing result and it's one that we'll have to reflect on and hope to put right against Truro."
Attention now turns to Saturday's mammoth journey to bottom club Truro City, with Pools and their hardy travelling fans set to undertake the 872-mile round trip to Cornwall as Featherstone's side bid to return to winning ways.