Hartlepool United manager Lennie Lawrence previews important week as Pools look to end run of four games without a win
Hartlepool United manager Lennie Lawrence believes the upcoming week is "as important a week as we've ever had".
Following such a positive run over the festive period, Pools have lost a lot of their momentum of late and are without a win in their last four games. Although Saturday's 1-1 draw with relegation-threatened Braintree moved them to within three points of the National League play-off places, most of their rivals have at least one gave in hand while Altrincham, Halifax and Oldham have two and Rochdale, who are the current occupants of the coveted seventh spot, have five. The play-offs are starting to look like a really tall order for Pools.
Having favoured a settled side for most of his tenure, Lawrence has started to ring the changes in recent weeks. Pools made four alterations for the trip to Barnet on Tuesday night and switched to a more defensive formation while Lawrence made another quartet of changes ahead of Saturday's game against Braintree as he reverted back to a 4-4-2. Injuries to Joe Grey and Anthony Mancini have forced his hand to an extent, but Pools have found it difficult to adapt to recent adjustments, especially given a quick turnaround between games and a lot of travelling. Pools won't have had too much time to work on their shape ahead of the weekend, having travelled back from North West London on Wednesday before making the trip down to Essex on Friday.
It feels like Pools are in real need of a week on the training ground as they bid to reignite their play-off hopes. Saturday's disappointing result means next weekend's trip to Sutton, who are one of their direct rivals and are unbeaten in their last seven, looks to have taken on even more significance. A defeat could well signal the beginning of the end of their play-off hopes.
Even so, most of the Pools camp retain belief that the play-offs are still a possibility and Lawrence has talked up an important week on the training ground as they look to get back to winning ways.
"It'll be very, very, very important. I would like to suggest that it's as important a week as we've ever had," he said.
"It's not a disaster, we're not in trouble. We're staying afloat in terms of the league position at best. We've got to win two or three games on the trot if we're going to make an impression and that was a great chance. That was a really, really great chance to start that run. We didn't take it."