'They'll crumble' - Pete Wild assesses Hartlepool United's poor home form

Pete Wild have urged his Hartlepool United players to learn to deal with the pressure of playing at Victoria Park if they are to move on from a dismal run of form.

Saturday’s surprise FA Cup exit at the hands of Marine means Pools have now lost their last six home games in all competitions and have not won at The Vic since Chris Popov netted the only goal of a win against Woking in early September. As it stands, only four of their National League rivals have a worse record on their own patch with Pools claiming just two wins from six home games during the first two months of the season.

Speaking in the aftermath of Saturday’s cup defeat against the National League North side, Wild bemoaned his players inability to bounce back from setbacks and insisted they must find more resilience after giving an insight into how he believes opposition managers will view his side.

He said: “It’s dealing with playing here isn’t it? There’s nothing else. For 70 minutes, you’re in control of a footy match, but as soon as you get punched in the face, the fans rightfully have a moan and have a pop because they’re not happy, and then everybody stops doing what they’re good at because they’re more worried about what people are saying about them. Ultimately, the only way people are going to stop saying nasty things about them is by rolling your sleeves up and doing what you need to do.

“This ground has the ability to suck players in and shrink players. That’s the nature of the beast when you play in front of decent crowds, decent followings and passionate fans. It can go one of two ways and I’ve been here before as an opposition manager and you’d get the crowd turned because they’d make them crumble. Every manager’s team talk before they come here is stay in the football match and when you punch them in the face, they’ll crumble. That’s what is happening at the moment.”

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Aspirations

Wild also warned his squad they have to be able to entertain in front of strong crowds and deal with the pressure that brings if they have aspirations of moving up the football pyramid as a team or as individuals.

“If you don’t want the pressure, go and sign for a football club that has 1,500 fans or 1,000 fans,” explained the Pools boss. “If you want to go and enjoy footie, if you want to be a manager and enjoy footie, go work for a club that you know has no fans. If you want to be on the bigger stage and you have aspirations of moving through the leagues, you have to deal with the pressure. It’s an entertainment industry, you have to entertain people and we aren’t entertaining people at the moment.”

Your next Hartlepool United: Opinion: Key figures at Hartlepool United must heed Pete Wild's stern warning