Hartlepool United must hold their 'nerve' as relegation run-in moves to Salford City

Askey's side had an off day in South Wales as they fell to a 2-0 defeat, a result which saw them slip back into the bottom two after Crawley Town’s win over Tranmere Rovers.

It leaves Hartlepool two points from safety ahead of their trip to eighth placed Salford City.

The Ammies have plenty to fight for themselves, however, as they are locked in a battle to secure a play-off spot following a 1-0 home defeat to Colchester United at the weekend.

That win saw the U’s climb six points above Hartlepool as they look to have League Two safety within their sights ahead of their significant trip to Crawley this evening.

But while the message from Askey has often been about focusing on what Hartlepool can do themselves as opposed to results elsewhere, the Pools boss now admits his side must hold their nerve as they seek a response to a first defeat since February.

"It’s one loss. It was always going to happen. It’s how we react now," said Askey.

"We’re desperate to stay up. The players are desperate to stay up. We’ve got to fight harder than we’ve done before and show everybody how much it matters to us and I’m sure on Tuesday they’ll do that.

"There’ll still be a lot of twists and turns from now until the end of the season, hopefully the go in our favour.

"We’ve got to keep our nerve. We can’t do anything about what other teams do, we can only concentrate on ourselves and that’s what we’ll do. We’ve got to get results.

"We always knew we were going to have to get two or three wins and that hasn’t changed, no matter what Crawley do.

"If we can get a win on Tuesday we go into the Crawley game knowing exactly what we need to do.”

Askey is likely to be without defender Euan Murray for the trip to the Peninsula Stadium after he was forced off with a potential season-ending hamstring injury in the defeat at Newport.

It leaves Askey short of options in defence with Peter Hartley continuing to struggle and Matt Dolan still fresh off a thigh injury.

Hartlepool will hope to have Jamie Sterry back available, however, after the full-back missed out at Rodney Parade.

Sterry travelled to South Wales but was left out of the squad with Askey hoping that should see him 100 per cent to face Salford.

“We miss Jamie when he’s not playing, but we just didn’t want to risk him coming on or starting and blowing up so he’s out for the rest of the season,” said Askey.

"Hopefully by not being included he’ll be available for Tuesday.”

Askey added: “It’s going to be a tough place to go. They’re doing well.

"But it’s another game where we’ve got to go out there and give our best. It’s another possibility of getting three points and why can’t we? That’s how we have to look at it.

"We’ll see what it brings but hopefully we can perform a lot better.”