Hartlepool United winger named in National League team of the week after spellbinding Solihull Moors display
Hartlepool United winger Tyrese Sinclair has been named in the National League team of the week.
The 25-year-old produced a man-of-the-match performance as Pools came from two goals down to beat Solihull Moors, one of Sinclair's former sides and a direct rival for a place in the play-offs, on Saturday.
Having helped haul Pools back into the game, the York City loanee turned home substitute Matty Daly's looping ball to edge his side in front for the first time all afternoon in the 84th minute before making sure of the three points by beating goalkeeper Laurie Walker with an inventive low free-kick in added time.
Certainly, Pools fans are starting to get excited about Sinclair, who has featured three times since signing on loan from title-chasing York in January. While the wideman has had a slightly stop, start beginning to his Pools career and was ineligible to play against his parent-club earlier this month, Sinclair burst into life with an explosive performance in the West Midlands.
Already, Pools supporters are energetically calling for their side to try and make Sinclair's loan move permanent following an impressive start to life in the North East. Indeed, Sinclair dovetailed well with fellow York loanee Cameron John at the weekend and it would be a surprise were Pools manager Nicky Featherstone not keen on keeping both of them at Victoria Park beyond this season.
Pools will be hoping Sinclair can put his considerable National League experience to good use between now and the end of the season as Featherstone's side bid to haul themselves into the top seven. Having come through the ranks at Mansfield, the winger signed permanently for Rochdale in the summer of 2022 and went on to score 14 goals in 71 games at Spotland.
After leaving Dale at the end of the 2023/24 season, Sinclair became one of the National League's most sought-after free agents and it was little surprise when big-spending York moved to snaffle him up.
The attacker was a regular in his first season at the York Community Stadium, scoring nine times in 48 matches as the Minstermen missed out on promotion back to the Football League despite amassing a whopping 96 points in the regular season after losing to eventual winners Oldham Athletic in the play-off semi-finals. Sinclair appears to have fallen out of favour in North Yorkshire this term, however, and had made just a handful of appearances when he joined Solihull on loan in October.
Having made his Moors debut against Pools, Sinclair went on to score three goals in 10 appearances during a productive spell at Damson Park and the forward admitted it was "bittersweet" after coming back to haunt his old side at the weekend.
Speaking after the full-time whistle on Saturday, Pools boss Featherstone hailed Sinclair as "absolutely brilliant" after his match-winning brace in the West Midlands.
"He was brilliant today - and he capped it off with two goals to win us the game," he said.
"We spoke about having to win today (Saturday), we had to win today if we wanted to have any chance of making that seventh place, so it was a must-win game. Tyrese was absolutely brilliant, that's what we've brought him in to do - to affect games going forward.
"He works incredibly hard, he does the hard yards but he's also a threat going forward. That's why we bring those sorts of players in, to affect the game; thankfully Tyrese has done that."
Sinclair is joined in the team of the week by former Pools frontman Mani Dieseruvwe. The 31-year-old, who was a hugely popular figure at Victoria Park and scored 43 goals in 89 games, helped league leaders Rochdale keep their noses in front of title rivals York thanks to a brace - his seventh of the campaign - during a thumping 3-0 win over Woking.
Alongside Sinclair and Dieseruvwe in the team of the week is Hartlepool-born attacking-midfielder Harry Chapman. The 28-year-old scored both goals, including a remarkable solo effort, as Gateshead beat Truro City 2-1 in a relegation grudge-match. Having endured a record-breaking run of 16 successive defeats, the Heed have now won their last two games under manager Rob Elliot.