Hartlepool United to attack Dagenham & Redbridge says Craig Hignett

Given the state of the League Two table – Pools are 22nd and six points above the basement – Hignett could be forgiven for adopting a no-lose approach at Victoria Park (kick-off 3pm).

But Hignett told SportMail: “That’s not me, I want to win every game and attack in every game.”

Indeed, the Pools boss is looking up the division and not down and wants Pools to kick on from last week’s 3-1 win at Barnet.

“I’m not bothered about where we are in the league because I’ve seen what we’ve got,” he said.

“But we have to put a run together and a run of three, four or five games.

“There is no reason why we can’t, we have it in us – but we need to go and do it.

“It’s a consistency thing.”

Hignett has seen his team create chances in every match of his reign and believes the scoreline at the Hive last Saturday was just the start.

“If we can score the first goal, I think we could go on and win three or four,” he said.

“We are creating chances – every time we went forward at Barnet, we looked like scoring a goal.

“That’s good for the lads.

“When I came in we were the lowest scorers in the league.

“But we’re creating bucket loads of chances and now it’s about being ruthless.

“And, to a degree, we were at Barnet. Lewis Hawkins first was out of the blue but it got us back in it and his second and Nathan Thomas’s goal were clinical finishes.

“Their keeper made a great save from Luke James so I think we are concentrating on hitting the target.

“Maybe before then, we were a bit all over the place with our finishing.”

Hignett though is not taking three points for granted tomorrow.

The Daggers are fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table and fighting hard.

John Still’s side are on their best run of the season of three games unbeaten and three clean sheets.

“Dagenham have had a decent run of late, a win and a draw this week,” said the 46-year-old.

“But we have to get at them and start at a really high tempo.

“They are bottom – but people will have looked at us against Northampton and no-one expected us to compete and we should have won.

“Everyone can beat everyone in this league.”

While Hignett has been impressed with the attacking flair, he hopes Pools continue in the same vein as they did at Barnet, where they recovered from the debacle at Bristol Rovers.

“Losing Batesy before kick-off at Bristol did not help,” he said. “But the performance level in the first half was not up to what I want.

“We were a lot more solid [at Barnet] and Rob Jones has had an effect already.

“The longer we can stay in games the better we will be, we have to cut out the sloppy goals.”