Hartlepool United manager provides bullish response when asked about Pools future

The Pools boss is under increasing pressure following a miserable run of four games without a win.

Having secured three successive victories for the first time since September, edging past bottom club Truro City and strugglers Eastleigh before twice coming from behind to get the better of Morecambe in dramatic circumstances, Pools appeared to have propelled themselves into play-off contention.

However, their hopes of a late surge into the top seven have since unravelled in ignominious fashion, with Pools on the end of a humiliating 7-0 mauling against Wealdstone, their heaviest defeat since 1994, before back-to-back goalless draws against Scunthorpe United and title-chasing Rochdale over the Easter weekend.

Having stopped the rot after battling to successive stalemates against two of the best sides in the division, Featherstone and his team must surely have been hoping to kick on ahead of Saturday's long trip to Hertfordshire to take on a Wood side who were themselves thumped by Solihull Moors on Easter Monday.

Yet almost from the off at Meadow Park, it was apparent that the shadow of last month's humiliating defeat to Wealdstone was still looming large over Pools, who were totally outclassed by a well-oiled Wood outfit throughout.

For whatever reason, Pools never managed to get going and the visitors barely laid a glove on Luke Garrard's side, while Featherstone was widely criticised by fans for what many perceived to be a negative and unimaginative tactical approach.

While the Pools boss was adamant that his side had planned to threaten Boreham Wood, who are the National League's second highest scorers, on the counter-attack, the visitors sat far too deep and never managed to get the likes of Alex Reid, who was asked to plough the loneliest of lone furrows up front on his own, Charlie Caton or Tyrese Sinclair into the game.

After managing to hang on until half time, Pools were undone by a second half hat-trick from the prolific Matt Rush, who has now scored 28 goals for the Hertfordshire side this season.

Having defended resolutely in the first half, a series of mistakes cost Pools, with Maxim Kouogun failing to track Rush in the lead up to his opening goal, neither Cameron John nor Tom Parkes picking up the diminutive frontman as he headed his second home from close range, before the lacklustre visitors sat off the 25-year-old as he completed his hat-trick late on.

While Pools might well bemoan uncharacteristic defensive errors, the fact that the visitors offered next to nothing in an attacking sense meant that the back line were asked to repel wave after wave of Wood attacks and even before the deadlock was broken, it felt inevitable that the home side would eventually breach the defence.

Featherstone is now having to contend with a whole host of problems, not least the fact that his side have failed to score for four games in a row - well over six hours of football.

Indeed, Pools have drawn a blank in 16 of their 46 matches this term and the only teams to have scored fewer league goals than their 47 have all been relegated.

Pools must now come to terms with the prospect of a fourth successive season in the National League and it's hard to imagine that Featherstone and his side are particularly relishing the prospect of a challenging end to the campaign that will see them entertain promotion hopefuls Forest Green Rovers and play-off contenders Southend United before travelling to a Boston United side who have been much-improved since the return of popular manager Paul Hurst.

It's effectively an open secret that Featherstone is, to all intents and purposes, auditioning in a bid to prove to new owner Landon Smith that he is the right man to lead the team beyond this summer.

While it wasn't long ago that the 37-year-old boasted the best record of any permanent Pools manager in the club's entire history, the recent run of miserable results and performances are unlikely to have helped his cause.

Certainly, Featherstone has divided opinion among the fanbase, with some hailing him as a safe pair of hands who knows the club inside out while others have criticised an apparent lack of tactical imagination as well as an approach that is often perceived to be defensive-minded to the point of negativity.

Given the hire and fire culture that dominated during the tumultuous tenure of controversial former owner Raj Singh, there is hope that Smith's takeover will usher in a new era of stability; the question Smith will have to answer over the coming weeks is whether or not Featherstone has done enough to prove he is the right man to put his faith in long term as the American businessman bids to lead Pools back to the Football League.

Featherstone said on Saturday that uncertainty surrounding the summer is hampering his side on the pitch - after all, the Pools boss as well as most of the squad are believed to be out of contract at the end of the season - while assistant manager Gary Liddle admitted last week that Pools were in "the world of the unknown".

The recent appointment of specialist football consultancy firm Bromby and Partners would suggest that change is in the offing, with Featherstone one of a whole host of staff and players likely set to find out their fate when another underwhelming campaign draws to a close later this month.

"I don't think that's a question I should be answering," the embattled Pools boss said when asked about his future by BBC Radio Tees Sport.

"I think everyone knows the affiliation I have with this football club, the love I have for this football club, and how much I want this football club to find success.

"I don't think I have to stand here and answer a question like that, of course I want to be involved at the football club - as the manager if I can.

"I feel like we've done a lot of good things in the time we've had with a squad that isn't mine.

"We've had a lot to deal with, we've had a couple of ownerships, an assistant that's left to go somewhere else and we've had a lot of things going on in the background.

"I don't need to answer that question, I think everyone's fully aware of my position and the love I have for this football club."

Your next Hartlepool United read: Player ratings as Pools thumped by Boreham Wood