Hartlepool United 'moving in the right direction' despite agonising Boreham Wood defeat

Pete Wild insisted Hartlepool United are ‘moving in the right direction’ despite suffering a late defeat in a seven-goal thriller at National League title favourites Boreham Wood.

Pools struggled to get to grips with Luke Garrard’s side during the first-half and found themselves two goals down at half-time thanks to a debatable penalty from Danny Cashman and a goal from former Gateshead midfielder Tom White. The message delivered to the Pools players during the break made an impact as Wild’s men turned the game on its head by the time the hour-mark had been reached.

Max Kouogun sparked hopes of a comeback just minutes after the restart before Cole Deeming’s first goal for the club restored parity. That set the scene for midfielder Jamie Miley to strike a wonder goal from all of 45 yards to put Pools in front for the first and spark hopes that a memorable and crucial win could be on the cards. However, Zak Brunt got the hosts back on level-terms three minutes from time before top goalscorer Matt Rush marked his return from injury by netting the winning goal three minutes into stoppage-time.

Wild revealed just what he had told his players in the away dressing room at half-time and tried to put a positive slant on what was an agonising loss against the runaway league leaders.

He told BBC Radio Tees: “The message at half-time was get at them, get in their faces especially in that middle area, go and see what they’ve got and they did that for 20 minutes and we got ourselves rightly three-two ahead and right back in the football match. As they game goes on, they put lots of pressure on us and gutted to concede at the end and I need to see them back to see what actually really happened but effort, desire, game-plan, it’s all moving in the right direction.”

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‘You know they’ve got it in them’

Pools’ FA Cup fourth qualifying round exit at the hands of National League North club Marine means they are now preparing for a two-week break from on-field action and they will not resume their league campaign until they host Wealdstone at Victoria Park on 14 November.

Wild admitted his players’ efforts during the second-half had taken its toll on the back end of what was a busy week on the training pitch as he gave an insight into his mindset as they threatened to become the first side to beat Boreham Wood in the league this season.

He said: “You know they’ve got it in them, I said that in midweek, you know they’ve got it in them and they’ve got to do that more consistently. They have gone for them, they’ve gone after them but that leaves us a little bit later on with tired legs. The lads have put so much into this week so then you’re looking at replacing them and trying to keep the intensity of the game so there is a lot going on emotionally and tactically within the game.”

Your next Hartlepool United read: Heartbreak for Hartlepool United after they are on wrong end of a seven-goal thriller at leaders Boreham Wood