Hartlepool United boss hails Carlisle United triumph as among best performances of his tenure
Hartlepool United manager Nicky Featherstone hailed his side's performance in Wednesday night's dominant 3-1 win over promotion-chasing Carlisle United as among the best of his tenure.
Almost from referee Declane Bourne's first whistle to his last, the home side produced an outstanding display to inflict a damaging defeat on one of their bitterest rivals, impressing with their purposeful attacking play while stifling a Carlisle front line packed full of quality.
Indeed, Pools took a big step towards the National League play-off places, moving to within a point of the top seven after a result and performance that even the most optimistic of fans would surely have struggled to have seen coming; all of a sudden, there is a sense that long-suffering Pools supporters, so often starved of success, are daring to dream once again.
Big-spending Carlisle, who are bidding to engineer an immediate return to the Football League under Manchester United legend Mark Hughes having suffered back-to-back relegations, rolled into town having won their last three games in a row and with a squad chock-full of talent and experience.
After being condemned to a second successive relegation last season, Carlisle, one of the richest clubs in the National League, spent big over the summer in a bid to bounce straight back. Indeed, such is the quality available to the Cumbrians that Hughes was able to leave the likes of Regan Linney, who scored 44 goals in 93 games during a prolific spell with Altrincham, and powerful frontman Georgie Kelly on the bench, with former Pools promotion-winner Luke Armstrong and the highly-rated Chris Conn-Clarke lining up in attack for the visitors.
While Pools might find it impossible to compete with Carlisle financially, Featherstone's side outclassed, outfought and outworked the Cumbrians on a memorable night for the home side in front of new owner Landon Smith.
Mere weeks ago, it was hard to see how Pools were going to haul themselves back into play-off contention but all of a sudden Featherstone's side are within touching distance of the top seven. After results went in their favour earlier in the week - seventh-placed Southend United were beaten by Boreham Wood, their third defeat in five league games, while Halifax, who are eighth, drew with title-chasing Rochdale - Pools took a huge step towards the play-off places.
Significantly, Featherstone's side are still to welcome both the Shrimpers and the Shaymen to Victoria Park, while Southend in particular face a testing run of fixtures on the horizon, with Kevin Maher's side set to take on three of the division's top six - Carlisle, Forest Green Rovers and Rochdale - in their next five games.
Yet none of that would have mattered had Pools not produced one of their finest performances in recent memory to get one over on their rivals.
Right from the off, it felt like something special might have been in the offing with Pools, who made three changes from Saturday's remarkable win over Solihull Moors, starting well and fashioning a couple of half-chances in the opening exchanges.
Perhaps the biggest difference of late has been the outstanding Tyrese Sinclair, who scored a brace at the weekend and opened the scoring with a fine solo goal in the 12th minute, beating his man after receiving the ball on the halfway line, gliding past the covering Bevis Mugabi before bending an effort beyond Gabriel Breeze. Having been deemed surplus to requirements, for now at least, by parent-club York City, the 25-year-old winger has wasted little time endearing himself to Pools fans; Featherstone said afterwards that Sinclair's recent performances had shades of Reyes Cleary, who scored six goals in 18 games during a blistering spell in the North East last term.
Having squandered a handful of chances to extend their advantage, Pools must have been expecting Carlisle to up the ante in the second half but the home side suffocated their hapless visitors with a relentless showing, doubling their lead a minute after the restart thanks to a fine goal from Alex Reid, his ninth of the season and second in as many matches.
Just when Carlisle looked to be getting a foothold in the game for pretty much the first time, midfielder Harvey MacAdam was sent off after 59 minutes following a second yellow card. Having narrowly avoided a straight red in the first half after appearing to lead with his elbow when barging into Sinclair, he left referee Bourne with little to no choice but to give him his marching orders after cynically clipping the York loanee's heels as he bore down on goal.
Perhaps the moment of the match came 13 minutes from time when Calvin Okike marked his professional debut with his first ever goal in remarkable fashion. The 18-year-old Hull City loanee had only been on the pitch for a mere 15 seconds when he scored with his first touch in the professional game, producing a cool finish after fellow substitute Sam Folarin's initial effort had been saved.
Carlisle pulled one back through Kelly, who scored as the Cumbrians won the reverse fixture in October, but the visitors never really looked like mounting a comeback on a memorable and potentially momentous night for Pools.
For Featherstone, too, the result and performance could hardly have come at a better time with the new Pools owner, yet to make a decision over the 37-year-old's long-term future, watching on from the stands having flown over from the United States for the second time since completing his takeover of the club on New Year's Eve. While Featherstone still, in all likelihood, has some work to do if he's to win over the entire Pools fanbase and convince Smith he is the right man to lead the team beyond this season, Wednesday's emphatic win feels like a big step in the right direction.
"It's got to be up there with one of the best performances in my time here," Featherstone told BBC Radio Tees Sport.
"Because of the opposition, the form they were in before we played them and the rivalry between the two clubs - there's a bit of needle there. It's a big one, and an important one for us at this stage of the season as well.
"The results went for us last night and it was important that we did our bit tonight. I challenged the players; we've not had an opportunity to play a bigger team at home since I've been in charge but the challenge from me was a performance at home, and a result.
"We've had the performance at York, we've had the performance and result against Rochdale; the challenge was to have a performance at home against a top team. We did, I thought we were excellent.
"There was some lovely play, in the first half especially. There was some lovely combination play between the wingers and full-backs, the midfield three were very good in terms of picking up second balls and then, when landing on it, finding a man in white and blue.
"I'm really pleased; the timing of the goals, the quality of the goals, there's a lot to like about the performance."