Lee Clark heartened by Hartlepool United's reaction to Sutton United defeat

Lee Clark has been heartened by Hartlepool United’s reaction to last weekend’s defeat at Sutton United and revealed his players have shown ‘positive characteristics’ ahead of Friday night’s home clash with Eastleigh.

After claiming maximum points from their first two games of the new National League season, Pools suffered a defeat in South London as goals from Temi Babalola and Emmanuel Osadabe helped Sutton to a 2-1 win on their home patch. Corey McKeown’s second goal in as many games was not enough for Clark’s men to claim a point from the game - but after a hard week of work on the training pitch, all focus is now on their return to Victoria Park.

The visitors will arrive on the back of making an identical start to Pools after winning two and losing one of their first three games of the season and will be certain to present a difficult challenge for Clark’s men. However, the Pools boss reflected positively on the reaction of his squad to last weekend’s defeat and praised them for taking accountability for the loss.

He told the club website: “We’ve given ourselves an identity in terms of how we want to play, the work ethic of the group, the desire of the group, which I realised pretty quickly in pre-season, and what I have liked as well is we’ve had a setback in the last game - but I’ve loved the reaction of the players on the training pitch. Coming to speak to me and the staff, understanding the disappointment in the result and the performance. Everyone is taking accountability. That’s great. We win together, we lose together, the staff, the players, we enjoy the wins together and we also accept responsibility when we don’t get those results and that’s been a great thing for me this week. In adversity, you usually see the proper characteristics come out and since the result at Sutton, I’ve seen some great, positive characteristics come out.”

‘We don’t take the for granted’

Friday night’s clash with mark the first home game since Clark’s side handed their manager a win in his first competitive fixture in charge on the opening day of the season. Almost 6,000 Poolies were on hand to witness summer signings Jack Nolan and Will Harris found the net in a 2-0 win against Barrow and they provided a memorable atmosphere as their side made a positive start to the campaign.

Clark admitted he is relishing the prospect of a night under the lights at The Vic and he insisted both he and his players are looking forward to witnessing an ‘unbelievable atmosphere’.

“We are looking forward to getting back at home in front of our brilliant fans. The two away games, the support was superb, the first game at The Vic was an unbelievable atmosphere. Playing under the lights as well, is really special and no doubt we will have brilliant support again. We are looking forward to getting that again, we don’t take that for granted.”

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