Hartlepool United v AFC Fylde: Pools in a good place after three straight wins

Hartlepool have made a strong start to their National League campaign with last weekend’s victory over Southend United a third straight win for the club for the first time in 18-months.

It has led to an uplift in the mood around the Suit Direct Stadium as they prepare to take centre stage in front of the TNT Sports cameras tonight against AFC Fylde.

John Askey’s side will be looking to make it four wins in a row against the Coasters ahead of a trip to Chesterfield on Bank Holiday Monday.

But following a year of turmoil over the last 12 months, where wins have been infrequent and the mood continuously low, first team coach Antony Sweeney has confessed it is a good place to work at the moment on the back of some positive results, as the club continues on its quest to bounce back to the Football League.

"It’s a nice place to work at this moment in time on the back of three good results,” said Sweeney.

"That’s not something we could have said too often over the last couple of years. I think the lads are in a good place.

"When you get three points, or a result like we did against Southend, it’s good no matter what.

"But the manner of it; we started the game really slowly and we conceded the early goal and there’s been times in the recent past where that would have been it, that would have been us done. We’d have struggled, it would have been a hard luck story. But we managed to claw ourselves back into it.

"I’m not sure how many times we’ve conceded and gone behind twice within an away game and come back and won in history. So it was a really good pat on the back for the lads.

"They’ve shown the resilience and the determination to get themselves back into it. It’s all right winning games when you’re playing well, that’s essentially the easy thing to do. Winning games when you’re not quite at it is the hard thing.

"And that’s what separates teams who finish at the top end of the table and teams who finish in the middle of the table. We’re not going to lie, we’ve got aspirations of being towards the top end of the table, so we’re going to need to do that more often than not.”

Pools will continue with that goal of being towards the top end of the table against newly promoted Fylde, who have enjoyed a reasonable start back to life in the National League with four points from their opening four games of the season.

Should results in the early kick-offs go in their favour, Hartlepool could hit the top of the National League table with a win ahead of their trip to Chesterfield on Monday which would represent another positive early step in the right direction for Askey and his side.

Hartlepool have won both of their fixtures at the Suit Direct Stadium so far this season, scoring five goals in the process, and look set to be boosted by the availability of striker Emmanuel Dieseruvwe who went off injured at Roots Hall last week.

The striker has trained this week with coach Sweeney revealing the club has ‘more or less a clean bill of health’ ahead of tonight’s fixture.

Pools will continue to be without Josh Umerah, however, who serves the final game of his three-match ban on Saturday tea-time after his red card picked up in the win against Gateshead.

And red cards have been a common theme for Fylde so far this season with Adam Murray having seen three of his players sent off in the opening four games of the season.

“In my opinion, apart from Connor Barrett’s at Maidenhead – which was stupid – it’s not as if we’re making reckless tackles,” Murray told the Gazette following the stoppage time defeat at Wealdstone.

“We’re just getting caught out with sloppy defending but it’s still something to learn from.

“At the minute, we’re our own worst enemy.”

But the Coasters will still represent a threat for Hartlepool this weekend with Murray’s side likely to include a player Pools will be familiar with in Nick Haughton having been linked with the midfielder last year.

The 28-year-old went viral, despite the club’s defeat at Wealdstone, when scoring from inside his own half to, at the time, give Fylde the lead.

"They’ve got some good players,” said Sweeney.

"They’ve got some players we’re aware of and who we’ve played against and have been there a while, the likes of Nick Haughton and [Danny] Philliskirk in midfield, so they’ll provide us with a test.

"I’ve seen a couple of the goals that Nick has scored from distance as well so that’s something that we’re going to have to be aware of but we back ourselves, we back ourselves against anyone in this league.

"If our attitude is right, our application is right, I think we’ve got the quality to hurt most teams, and Fylde will be no different, but we’ve got to respect what they’ll bring as well. They will be a threat, they’ve got goals in them.

"But we’ll be prepared and the players should be in a good place in terms of the results that we’ve had.”