Hartlepool United v Harrogate Town: Keith Curle wants 'consistency' ahead of FA Cup tie

Curle is one victory away from being in the hat for a potential dream tie with Manchester City but knows he will need to see more from his side than he did in the league at Holker Street.

Curle has had a full week to prepare his team for the visit of Harrogate, which will be the third time already this season the two teams have met after being drawn together in the Papa Johns Trophy.

Hartlepool were successful in that cup tie back in August before losing 2-1 in the league at the Envirovent Stadium in October with Curle challenging his side to find some consistency ahead of their second round tie.

Curle said: “We’ve got some players that are potentially getting time on the grass, so can we accelerate some of those but with the mindset we know we’ve got a busy month coming up?”

“Winning games helps and having that winning mentality and we know our home ground has got to be a fortress.

“But we need to be soldiers. We need to have soldiers in that changing room who are going to come out and they’re going to make good decisions. We haven't got that consistency at the minute.

“At Stevenage, for 88 minutes, we had a level of consistency about our decision making. For 45 minutes against Solihull we made good decisions. For 45 minutes [against Barrow] we were OK in our decision making in the second half. But the periods in between were not good enough.”

Pools enjoyed a hugely successful FA Cup campaign last season when making it to the fourth round against Crystal Palace and that is something Curle would love to replicate.

“I’ve spoken to a few people who were here last year and they’ve told me about the cup runs and the performances and the performance at Crystal Palace as well,” he said.

“I’ve been quite fortunate in the FA Cup, I’ve had some good games, some good runs and some good encounters as a player and as a coach. I enjoy the FA Cup but, likewise, I like winning games.”