Winning can be an ‘easy habit’ for Hartlepool United

Pools recorded back-to-back wins at The Vic for the first time in almost a year with the 3-2 win over Plymouth Argyle.

It followed on from the 2-0 over Cheltenham Town and with four out of the next seven matches on home turf, Moore is keen to make it a hard place to come for visiting sides.

He admitted he used to “hate” the trip to the North East when he was in charge of Tranmere Rovers and Rotherham United.

And he wants his Pools team to make it the same intimidating place it once was for away sides.

Moore said: “We have a lot of home games coming up and we said before the match that we have to make this place a fortress.

“When I was manager at Tranmere Rovers and Rotherham United I always used to hate coming up here.

“It was always windy and it was always cold.

“We have to try and get that feeling into people when they come here.

“We have done that in the last few weeks.

“The gap is seven points now and we have a busy time to come.

“We have to win at home because we can adapt away from home and we have a massive game at Portsmouth this Saturday.

“It’s one to look forward to and we can play, compete and look forward to it.”

Moore – who celebrated his 62nd birthday at the end of last week – knows the squad wasn’t used to winning before he came in.

He added: “They are not used to winning but it can become an easy habit.

“We won this one and should have won at Tranmere but we didn’t.”

– RICHARD MENNEAR

The boss was keen for his victorious players to celebrate the win before getting back down to hard work ahead of the long trip to Portsmouth.

“I told the players to enjoy the win but don’t go daft,” said Moore.

“I’m not one of those that says they can’t have a beer.

“If they want to they can but do it sensibly and then we start work again ahead of Portsmouth.

“It was a nice way to celebrate my birthday - I had a couple of beers to celebrate.”

- RICHARD MENNEAR