‘I’ll be reading into it more than I should’ – Dave Challinor assesses Hartlepool United's disjointed pre-season

Three defeats against National League North sides Spennymoor Town, Gateshead and Blyth Spartans were book ended by big wins over eighth tier sides Runcorn Linnets and Dunston UTS.

And with Hartlepool’s competitive League Two season about to get under way against Crawley Town at Victoria Park this weekend, just how much can we read into the friendly results over the past few weeks?

“You can read into it as much as you want,” Challinor told The Mail. “I’ll be reading into it more than I should because I want to win, I think it’s a great habit to get into whether it’s the league or pre-season.

"One thing for certain is that if we win against Crawley next Saturday then these pre-season results are forgotten about, that’s how it works.

"On the flip side of that, if we don’t start well, the euphoria of winning a promotion final at Bristol will be forgotten about.

"You move on and unfortunately we’ve not had as big an opportunity as we would have liked to celebrate and prepare for this coming season.

"It’s a good consequence of promotion and it can’t be an excuse because we’ve got to focus on the present and what we need to do.”

Pools have sold over 2,500 season tickets ahead of their League Two return this weekend with The Vic is set to welcome an unrestricted crowd for the first time since March 2020.

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