Hartlepool United suffered a 7-0 defeat at National League rivals Wealdstone on Tuesday night.

Wealdstone manager Gary Waddock has hinted Hartlepool United’s preparations for their midweek clash with his side may have played a part in what became their biggest defeat in 32 years.

Pools travelled to London on Monday as they prepared to face the FA Trophy finalists at their Grosvenor Vale home just days after their hosts had secured a Wembley date with Southend United. Waddock’s men were understandably buoyant after seeing off Marine to land a famous day under the arch and their confidence showed as they tore into Pools from the first whistle.

placeholder image — Gary Waddock. | Getty Images

Nicky Featherstone and his players made the trip to the capital on Monday and stayed overnight as they prepared for a game that offered an opportunity to boost their push for a National League play-off place. However, the Stones had the game wrapped up inside the first-half as a hat-trick from Micah Obiero and a goal apiece from Dylan Kadji and Anthony Georgiou gave Waddock’s men a five-goal advantage at the break. There was no let-up after the restart as Enzo Boldewijn added a sixth goal with 20 minutes remaining and further salt was poured into the wounds when former Pools forward Olufela Olomola rounded off a miserable night for his old club inside the closing stages.

Waddock praised his side’s performance and the attitude they had shown after their weekend heroics and admitted they had taken advantage of Pools’ preparations after having a similar experience in their long trip to Gateshead last month.

Flat performance

The Pools boss has called on his side to stick together following their heaviest defeat since 1994 against Wealdstone on Tuesday night, which Featherstone admitted he "didn't see coming at all". | Picture by Frank Reid.

He told the Stones official YouTube channel: “I didn’t expect that result because we were coming up against a good side, a good club and they’re looking at the play-offs. On the back of what happened on Saturday, the motivation from our side, you just never know what could happen. It was a big day on Saturday, it could have been a flat performance tonight - but me and Payney said before the game about mentality and stuff like that. They came up with all of the right answers.

“We’ve had fast starts in games and not had the rewards from it. We went up to Gateshead not so long ago and we stayed overnight and then the day of the game was a long day and we started a bit lethargic. I used that today with the lads. They (Pools) came down yesterday, stayed overnight, so how do they feel? I said to make sure we come out of the traps really quickly, set the tone and we did. The intensity was really good to start with because you can’t turn it on and off, you have to have it on all of the time. We started really well and we got the rewards from it.”

Pools will hope to bounce back from a humbling night in the capital when they visit Scunthorpe United on Friday afternoon before hosting current league leaders Rochdale on Monday.

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