Hartlepool United must build on 'never say die' attitude says ex-Luton Town and Gillingham defender after Grimsby Town success

Hartlepool have built a club motto around the mantra of ‘Never Say Die,’ as it hangs proudly on the wall of the Suit Direct Stadium exterior and they showed it in abundance when coming from behind to upstage the Mariners. Pools fell behind early in the game but were able to fight back and claim all three points with two goals in four minutes in the closing stages.

It was just Pools’ second win in the league this season, both coming on home soil, but was enough to edge them off the foot of the League Two table. And Lacey, who set the ball rolling with a well placed header to equalise against Grimsby, says the attitude to keep going can help them climb the table further.

“I think winning in that manner does give you more confidence,” Lacey confessed to The Mail.

“It shows the character in the team to keep pushing right up to the end. We’ve had games in the season, Mansfield away, where we’ve managed to come back in the last couple of minutes, so I think we’ve got the confidence to keep going to the end. It’s just making sure we have a never say die attitude and keep going.

“Performances have been up and down but certainly in the last couple of games I think we’ve done enough to get something out of the games.

“We’ve got to be delighted with our second half performance to spin it round. You saw the atmosphere amongst the crowd - they were dying to get three points, so we need to use that as a platform to hopefully kick on and keep it going.”

The defender added: “You saw how much of a change it was once we got a goal, and how we had the crowd right behind us pushing us over the line to get the three points.

“So hopefully, if we can keep performing how we have the last couple of games, I think we’ll be alright this season and we can keep climbing up the table.”

Lacey’s header was timely in that it gave Pools a foothold to allow them to go on and win the game. It was his second goal of the season after his opener in the defeat to Carlisle United and, while his main priority is in trying to keep clean sheets, the 29-year-old admits it’s nice to help out at the other end in front of goal.

“Hopefully I can continue to chip in and help the strikers with a few goals,” said Lacey.

“That’s a part of my game, but you want to be keeping clean sheets. We want to keep clean sheets as a team. [But] it’s a big win to hopefully climb the table and get off the bottom spot.”