Hartlepool United interim manager Nicky Featherstone full of praise for resurgent Adam Campbell
Hartlepool United's interim manager Nicky Featherstone was full of praise for Adam Campbell after the resurgent attacker produced a man of the match performance during Saturday's 1-1 draw with in-form Wealdstone.
Having been brought back into the first team fold by Featherstone, who has been in temporary charge for more than a month and has overseen a run of five games unbeaten, Campbell has been among the outstanding performers and has scored twice in his last three appearances.
The 30-year-old found himself out of favour under former boss Simon Grayson and had made just two fleeting substitute appearances this term prior to being handed a first league start since March by Featherstone ahead of last month's long trip to Sutton.
While it's taken the frontman some time to get going, Campbell has produced a string of impressive displays in recent weeks, scoring his first goal of the campaign against Morecambe, firing home the winner at Halifax and setting up Alex Reid's opener on Saturday.
Certainly, Pools fans will be hoping the experienced forward can now get back to his best and become an integral player for the remainder of the season following a torrid start to life at Victoria Park.
Big things were expected of Campbell, who made his Premier League debut for Newcastle as a teenager and enjoyed a prolific spell at Gateshead as the Heed were crowned National League North champions in 2022, when he signed for Pools in the summer of 2024.
Indeed, the attacker turned down the offer of a new contract by League One Crawley in order to return to the North East and sign for Pools having helped the West Sussex side win an unlikely promotion from League Two, scoring seven goals in 48 games in all competitions and starting in the play-off final at Wembley.
However, almost from the outset, Campbell, who made two appearances for Pools during a fleeting loan spell towards the beginning of his career, found things tough going at Victoria Park.
Having proven ill-suited to Darren Sarll's direct brand of football, the diminutive Campbell showed one or two signs of improvement under veteran Lennie Lawrence but found himself on the fringes of the side towards the end of the season and even appeared to be jeered by his own fans during February's goalless draw with Maidenhead.
Despite his obvious talent - it would be hard to imagine Campbell having had such a successful career were he not a capable footballer - it had become difficult to envisage the attacker turning his time at Pools around, particularly as he found himself omitted from several matchday squads by Grayson.
Yet there are now positive signs that Campbell could be set to salvage his Pools career and Featherstone, himself a player who built his game on his technical prowess, told the Red Radio he was delighted with the forward's recent improvements.
"He's been brilliant," he said.
"We know all about Adam's qualities, he got an assist today (Saturday) for Reidy (Alex Reid), so he's contributing in terms of goal involvements.
"Adam's got a lot of quality, he's an intelligent footballer and if we can get him in the right areas at the right times then he will produce either goals or assists."