Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor looking to start 2020 'with a bang' against Harrogate Town at Victoria Park

Less than a week after being soundly beaten 4-1 by Harrogate at the CNG Stadium, Pools have the chance to earn some form of redemption to start 2020.

Despite drawing 2-2 with Barrow on Saturday, the previous match against the North Yorkshire outfit is still playing on Challinor’s mind.

“I’m still hurting, I know Thirls [Paul Thirlwell, assistant manager] and Weaves [Simon Weaver, manager] well and I’ve known them for a long time so it hurts because I hate losing and the manner in which you lose can be more hurtful,” said the Hartlepool manager.

“If we control what we can and lose, as much as I hate losing, I can accept it. That’s got to be the case in terms of effort and desire because it wasn’t on Boxing Day.

“Harrogate are a team that are where we want to be, they’re in the play-offs.

“As footballers, if our lads aspire to play at a higher level, then those Harrogate players are their competition and they’ve got to be better than what they are.

“You want to get one over on them and you do everything you can to try and make sure that’s the case and hopefully I’m sat here after the game saying how football can turn around quickly and how we’ve proved it.

“Christmas and Boxing Day is a tougher one than New Years, we train normally and have a game on New Years Day hopefully in front of a huge crowd here.

“It’s not about revenge, it’s about getting rid of a few demons from a week earlier.

“I think this time of year, when you’ve been in football for as long as I have, this is a football time so you don’t really get distracted by the festivities going on.

“Hopefully we’ll have plenty of celebrating to do especially further down the line but that will only be the case if we take care of those games we’ve got coming up.

“Hopefully we can get three points and start the new year with a bang!”