Hartlepool United defender Michael Raynes keeping a cool head

Pools have lost three of their opening five matches and currently sit 20th in the fifth tier table.

After all the pre-season talk of finally pushing for a play-off place after two seasons of disappointment in the fifth tier, the start to the campaign has left Poolies with a sickeningly familiar feeling.

But as the most experienced member of the Pools squad, Raynes is focused on keeping things simple.

“The way I’ve gone through my career, it’s all about one game at a time,” he said.

“It’s where you are at the end of the season that matters. I don’t think you can look at a bigger point of view, it ends up getting in your head especially early on. You have to take every game as it comes, try to control what you can, do your best, and do it your way.

“[We are a big club] but you can say that about a lot of clubs at this level. My old club, Stockport, they get 7,000 for their home games, Notts County now they are on their feet they will be up there, Fylde are throwing money at it.

“It’s a tough, tough league as it always is. But we’ve got a good, honest group and I still wouldn’t swap them for much in this league.”

Pools travel to Chorley this Saturday (3pm kick-off) looking to claim their second win of the campaign.