Hartlepool United manager Simon Grayson calls for Pools to be more "ruthless" following first defeat of new season
Hartlepool United manager Simon Grayson has called for his side to be more "ruthless" after Pools slipped to their first defeat of the new National League season against Forest Green Rovers on Saturday.
While there is still plenty of optimism surrounding Pools, a difficult week for Grayson's side has led some fans to call for more attacking additions. Although Pools have been rock solid at the back, keeping an impressive five clean sheets in the opening eight matches, goals have proven difficult to come by. Pools have drawn a blank in three of their first eight games, scoring just nine times. Compared to most of their promotion rivals, that doesn't make for good reading; league leaders Forest Green have found the net 15 times, as have Mani Dieseruvwe's Rochdale, while free-scoring Carlisle have already scored 17 goals. Indeed, Pools are the second lowest scorers in the top half of the National League, with only Tamworth, who have played a game less, having managed fewer goals at this stage.
It is perhaps inevitable that the subject of goalscorers would be on the lips of many Pools fans in the opening weeks of the new campaign after the prolific Mani Dieseruvwe left to sign for well-fancied Rochdale over the summer. The talismanic frontman scored 43 goals in 89 games during a hugely successful spell at Victoria Park but swapped the North East for Greater Manchester after failing to agree a new contract with the club. Certainly, Pools have been proactive in their search for a replacement, signing Alex Reid, who managed an impressive 17 goals in 32 games for a struggling Wealdstone side last summer, as well as Danny Johnson. While Reid has made a reasonable start and is the club's leading scorer with three goals in his first eight appearances, Johnson has still to open his account despite a promising pre-season and lost his place in the side last week. With former Newcastle man Josh Donaldson, who signed for Pools at the end of July following a successful trial before immediately being shipped out on loan to Northern Premier League Division One East side Dunston UTS, bagging a hat-trick at the weekend, there have been some suggestions that the young striker could be set to be recalled.
Whatever the case, it's clear that Pools will need to find a way to score more goals if they're to be successful this season. Other than Alex Reid, no Pools player has scored more than once this term and Simon Grayson suggested his side could be in the market for reinforcements this week. Pools, who have failed to win any of their last four matches and have scored just twice in that time, risk losing ground on their rivals if they can't get their front line firing - and fast. Although Pools huffed and puffed at The New Lawn on Saturday, Hull loanee Harvey Cartwright was the busier of the two goalkeepers and had to make several saves to keep the visitors in the contest in the first half. Pools spurned chances to get back into the game after the break, not least when substitute Danny Johnson wasted an opportunity having been played through on goal late on. On Saturday's evidence, Pools need more creativity and clinicality in their ranks.
"When you look at the overall picture, the fact that it's taken us eight games before our first defeat, I think everybody would have taken that," Grayson told the official club website.
"It's a new group we've put together. When you lose games in a certain manner, you can be disappointed, but I think people will see that we've played well enough to get something out of the game. We started the game really, really well; we took the game to them, we played on the front foot and we created opportunities. In the second half they changed their shape and we still created opportunities, it was a really good football match to be fair. The one overriding thought is that we need to be a little more ruthless at the top end of the pitch. We put some great balls into the box, we had some good opportunities - especially in that period where we were on top - and we didn't capitalise on it. We had a couple in the second half again where we weren't ruthless enough, and I'm not talking about just the clear-cut chances. When we're shooting, we need to work the goalkeeper; if the goalkeeper doesn't have to make a save, then that needs to be worked on. It's frustrating, but I thought we played really well and had a real good go at them.
"Winning football matches is all about putting the ball in the back of the net and we haven't been able to do that in the last few games. We created a lot of chances, I think we created eight to 10 chances today (Saturday) - I'm not saying they were clear-cut chances - and we've come away with nothing. We're doing well enough in that aspect, but we know we need to do better in terms of creating more chances and being more ruthless when opportunities come our way."