Hartlepool United manager Craig Hignett delivers his 'overriding message' following 3-1 National League defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge

Craig Hignett was disappointed to see the basic errors return in Hartlepool United's 3-1 defeat at Dagenham & Redbridge.
Craig Hignett at Dagenham & Redbridge. (Credit: Ian Randall | MI News)Craig Hignett at Dagenham & Redbridge. (Credit: Ian Randall | MI News)
Craig Hignett at Dagenham & Redbridge. (Credit: Ian Randall | MI News)

It was a first defeat in six games for Pools and one Hignett felt his side ‘deserved nothing from’ as the Daggers put them to the sword by punishing their mistakes at the back.

Following the match, the United manager discussed the issues he’d be looking to address ahead of next weekend’s match.

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“The overriding message is that you can’t coast through games, you can’t just want to do it with the ball, you’ve got to want to do the nasty side as well with the running and the chasing,” he said.

In association with Grand Central.In association with Grand Central.
In association with Grand Central.

“It was hot and those conditions can be tough to ask them to play how we want them to, but Dagenham did it, so why shouldn’t we?

“We were caught a little bit with wanting to have the ball and look nice and pretty with the ball but when they had the ball we wanted to live in a comfort zone and we were carrying a few and you can’t do that in this league because you’ll get punished like we were.

“That is as angry as I’ve been, I think. They’ve been great the last few weeks so I don’t want to be too harsh but they know the standard wasn’t what we expect.

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“It’s not the most disappointed I’ve been, I was probably more disappointed after Sutton because of how we started. I thought we were always in the game here.

“The biggest disappointment was the goals that we gave away because we had stopped giving those sort of goals away.

“We gifted them two and the second and third are really poor. The second was embarrassing and the third we were all like statues.

“Even the first goal was poor but you could say every goal you concede has a mistake from someone.

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“But these were basic ones and were so poor that even if I was an under-12s coach I’d be disappointed.

“We’ve got to learn from it, get our heads down and work hard in training and get on another run.”