Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor discusses formation change in 4-0 win over Stockport County

The Hatters were reduced to nine men as goals from Rhys Oates, Ryan Johnson and two from Luke Armstrong saw Pools claim a convincing win at Victoria Park.

The Pools boss made eight changes from the side that lost on penalties to Halifax Town in the FA Trophy on Saturday with David Ferguson and new signing Jamie Sterry coming in as wing-backs.

Ben Killip, Timi Odusina, Mark Shelton, Nicky Featherstone, Gavan Holohan and Rhys Oates also came into the side as the mass rotation proved effective.

Playing three centre-backs and wing-backs for the first time in a while was also just the change the side needed after a poor run of results.

“It’s a system that I’ve always wanted to try and play and be adaptable around what we do,” Challinor said.

“We were able to do it earlier on in the season with Cass as a right-back and Ryan [Donaldson] higher up the pitch and we could shift it around where Cass moves in and Timi and Johno become three centre-backs with Fergie and Ryan as two wing-backs.

"It depends what other teams are doing and we have a different shape in possession and out of possession.

"We want to be able to get on the front foot and press against teams and that can be difficult if you’re playing a certain shape against a certain system.

"Especially when we’re playing here at The Vic, we’d want to get the crowd in the game with the way we play and just because they’re not here shouldn’t take away from the way we want to play and the type of team we want to be.”

Back to back wins and clean sheets at Victoria Park takes Pools up to fifth in the National League table.

“We’ve got a quick turnaround in terms of matches and we need to go and replicate what we showed on Tuesday and get three points against Halifax here on Boxing Day,” Challinor added.

“We’ve got to put a run together and it can’t be another false dawn. Hopefully it can be the start of something because a result like that should give us confidence regardless of the sendings off.”

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