Hartlepool United's defensive frailties a 'concern' for John Askey

John Askey’s side kicked off their National League campaign at the Hive where they found themselves 3-0 down before staging a late fightback with what would turn out to be two consolation strikes.

It followed a similar pattern as to what we have seen from Hartlepool over the last 12 months after Pools held the worst defensive record in League Two last season having conceded 78 times.

And defensively, Askey admits it's a concern.

"It’s a concern because I think you’ll always get goals, especially in this league,” he said.

"We’ve got players who are capable of creating and scoring but the big priority is not to concede. So to concede three goals, and three goals the way that we did, is poor.

"The first goal, people aren’t in the correct positions which is beyond words really.

"But we’ve learned a lot about one or two and it’s not just about having ability as regards controlling the ball, football is about determination and guts at times.

"The only thing I would say is we were three down and then we’ve come back to 3-2. But I think it’s easier to play in that situation sometimes.”

Despite the annoyance of conceding three soft goals, there were some frustration over the goals – particularly the opening two, with a potential offside not given before Pools felt Nicke Kabamba’s header did not cross the line.

But Askey believes, rightly or wrongly, those decisions should not have impacted Hartlepool's ability to respond.

“We don’t want to make excuses. It’s happened but it’s how you bounce back,” said Askey.

“We had two great opportunities, we’d gone one down from a debatable goal and then we should score. That would give us a lift and it impacts them, but we didn’t take the chances.

"They were simple chances as well,” Askey added.

"You won’t get better chances than them two in the first half – they’ve been taking them in pre-season.

"The second one doesn’t look as though it’s gone over the line but they shouldn’t get the cross in, that’s what I’m more concerned about; the amount of crosses that came in.”