Hartlepool United players need to change their defensive mindset following first defeat of the season against Torquay United

Pools had kept three clean sheets in their opening six games of the new season before suffering a 5-0 defeat to Torquay United over the weekend.

The scoreline highlighted several of the squad’s shortcomings, though Challinor felt the signs had been there prior to the game.

"To be fair, there were signs in the areas we needed to improve before Saturday but that's not taking anything away from the good start we’ve had,” he said.

"We’re experienced enough to see where we need to get better and we know we need to work with the group. We don’t have enough defensively minded players throughout the team which is a mindset rather than a skill.

"You can go in and be organised and concentrated but you need to work at that and we haven’t had the opportunity to do that with the number of games we’ve had.”

This week is only the second-week Pools have not had a Tuesday night fixture since the season started a month ago.

Pools are currently preparing to visit League Two outfit Salford City in the FA Cup first round this Saturday (3pm kick-off).

And Challinor is hoping to use the time on the training ground to work with his players on their defensive approach as he hopes to avoid a repeat of last weekend’s humiliating defeat.

The Pools boss has reaped the rewards of his attacking approach with forward-thinking full-backs during his time at the club.

But the right balance is required as he added: “I’m not saying we want to be a play at all costs team with full-backs always bombing forward.

"The clue is in the title, they’re defenders. Yes, we want them to join in but our left defender, right defender and central defender need to defend first and foremost.

"On Saturday I saw a laziness in our defending and our mentality in terms of how we went about things and it wasn’t acceptable. The players need to show that they’re willing to do anything that is needed to win a game of football.”

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