Hartlepool United boss Pete Wild explains how FA Cup loss 'helped' to inspire superb Hornchurch win

Hartlepool United boss Pete Wild has admitted that last week’s FA Cup exit at the hands of Marine might actually have “helped” his side in their preparations for Saturday afternoon’s battling 2-1 win over Hornchurch.

After being unceremoniously dumped out of the historic competition seven days ago, Pools bounced back to pick up a second consecutive National League victory courtesy of a Ryan Inniss own goal and a stunning Luke Charman strike - despite initially falling behind and being reduced to 10 men when Neo Eccleston was shown a third red card of the campaign.

But speaking to BBC Radio Tees after the final whistle at Victoria Park, Wild suggested that last weekend’s loss gave him the justification to demand more of his squad during training in the days leading up to Hornchurch’s visit. He said: “What a rollercoaster of a game, first of all. So pleased - so pleased for the fans, so pleased for the players, and so pleased for the staff.

“I just said to the players in there, if you work hard all week, that's what you get. If you don't work hard all week, you don't, and now they can sign this week off with flying colours because of how they've gone about their business. I'm going to make a comment here that I'm sure you'll enjoy... I think losing last week helped us in terms of it allowed me to go after them again and it allowed me to say, ‘No, we're not where we need to, we're still not where we need to be. No, we need more from you, we need to keep going’.

“I think if we'd have won last week, it might have just been a steady week. We don't need steady weeks at the moment, we need driving weeks, and as much as I don't want to lose in the FA Cup, I actually think last week's result probably helped us.”

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He added: “I thought we were really good with the football today. We knew Hornchurch were going to sit off us, we knew that we were going to have to be the ones that were the aggressive with the football.

“So we've been working all week on moving the football, the patterns of play to try and get around them, get beyond them. I thought the lads had a really good go at that, and I was really pleased at half-time with how they moved the ball.

“Some things are going to go astray - it's the fifth division of English football - but I was really pleased with the determination. And again, when we went one behind, they didn't look like they were punched in the face today, which was probably the first time that I've seen that. And they kept going, and they kept going.

“I was so pleased with how they kept going and how they kept driving forward. I've got to give them credit for them being brave with the football, and I thought they were really brave.”

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