Hartlepool United manager Dave Challinor on setting standards and raising the bar following 5-1 win at Chesterfield

Dave Challinor arrives for the Vanarama National League match between Chesterfield and Hartlepool United at the Proact stadium, Chesterfield on Tuesday 26th November 2019. (Credit: Mark Fletcher | MI News)

Challinor is unbeaten in his opening four games in charge as manager with two wins and two draws.

While there are still some questions defensively, a goal return of 13 in four matches is very impressive as the former AFC Fylde boss looks to be bringing out the best of Pools’ in the final third.

And when discussing the standards he’s set his side, Challinor said: “They’ve continued to raise the bar.

“What you can’t do is say we’ve set the standard by scoring five goals at Chesterfield, you have to look at your standards and base them around things you can control like effort, work rate, tempo, things like that.

“It’s so difficult to control playing well in football matches because the opposition obviously plays a big part in that.

“What we’ve got to do is raise the bar with those things and what we’ve tried to do is to push them and allow them to enjoy it.

“If you ask the players, that was probably one of the most enjoyable 45-minutes they’ve played this season. I’ve said to the players, the one thing you will enjoy is winning games and scoring goals and they’ve done that and I can tell that everyone has really enjoyed that one.

“The players showed me what they could do once again which is massively pleasing because I still think there’s more to come from the group.”