Hartlepool United striker Gary Madine is hoping Anthony Limbrick's front foot approach can help Pools compete for a place in the National League play-offs.

Madine has been in fine form of late and scored his seventh goal in nine games as Pools came from behind to beat in-form Sutton 2-1 on Saturday. Although Limbrick, who became the 16th man to take charge of Pools on a permanent basis when he replaced veteran Lennie Lawrence last week, has favoured a 4-2-3-1 throughout most of his managerial career, the Australian fielded a 3-5-2 formation in South London, allowing Madine to partner Mani Dieseruvwe.

When the former Sheffield Wednesday, Bolton and Blackpool frontman signed for Pools in August, he hadn't played a competitive game for 17 months and was without a goal in almost two years. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the 34-year-old lacked some match sharpness and failed to score in his first seven games, while then-manager Darren Sarll struggled to find space for both him and Dieseruvwe in the same side.

Since scoring his first Pools goal in November's win over Fylde, Madine has gone from strength to strength, impressing with his goalscoring instinct, movement in the box and ability to hold the ball up and link play. Despite a generally disappointing run of results, Madine's goals have helped keep Pools in touch with the play-off places.

Madine's seven goals in nine games have helped keep Pools within touching distance of the National League play-offs ahead of a potentially decisive seven days. Picture by Frank Reid.

placeholder image — Madine's seven goals in nine games have helped keep Pools within touching distance of the National League play-offs ahead of a potentially decisive seven days. Picture by Frank Reid.

Although Pools made considerable progress under Lawrence, who replaced Sarll in October, fans were growing increasingly frustrated with their failure to turn draws into wins; Pools drew eight of the veteran's 16 league games in charge, including disappointing results against strugglers Wealdstone, a Woking side who played for around an hour with 10 men after Chinwike Okoli was sent off, and relegation-threatened Braintree. Pools can ill-afford too many more slip-ups if they're to sneak into the top seven, while Limbrick will want to convince both supporters and the board that he is the right man to lead the team beyond this season.

Pools made the perfect start at the weekend, with Limbrick's daring formation and attack-minded substitutions paying dividends ahead of a potentially decisive week. Pools host Tamworth, Maidenhead and Altrincham, one of their direct play-off rivals, within the space of seven days and Madine is targeting maximum points. The in-form frontman is hoping Limbrick's more positive approach can help propel Pools towards the play-off places.

"I think we've been a little bit more on the front foot," he said.

"Lennie liked the mid-block, he did a great job steadying the ship and we've climbed the table a little bit since he came in. He helped get everyone's confidence back a little bit.

"Anthony's come in and he's put his own stamp on things, we're a little bit more attacking, a little more fluid. I'm over the moon for him, it's his first game and he's got his first win.

"There's no point winning 2-1 at Sutton and then going home and not backing up your performance. We've got three home games coming up and we want to be taking maximum points really. We can't afford to drop many more points now, there's not that many more games left where we can afford to drop them. We're looking for nine points out of the next three hopefully."