Hartlepool United captain Ryan Donaldson glad to be back on home soil against Boreham Wood after a busy spell on the road in the National League and FA Cup

Ryan Donaldson is pleased to finally be back at Victoria Park this Saturday after a busy spell on the road.
Ryan Donaldson of Hartlepool United     during the Vanarama National League match between Ebbsfleet United and Hartlepool United at The Cufflink Stadium, Northfleet on Saturday 16th November 2019. (Credit: Leila Coker | MI News)Ryan Donaldson of Hartlepool United     during the Vanarama National League match between Ebbsfleet United and Hartlepool United at The Cufflink Stadium, Northfleet on Saturday 16th November 2019. (Credit: Leila Coker | MI News)
Ryan Donaldson of Hartlepool United during the Vanarama National League match between Ebbsfleet United and Hartlepool United at The Cufflink Stadium, Northfleet on Saturday 16th November 2019. (Credit: Leila Coker | MI News)

Hartlepool United host Boreham Wood (3pm kick-off) in what is new manager Dave Challinor’s first home match in charge and an important one if he wants his side to climb to back into play-off contention.

Pools currently sit five points adrift of the top seven having gone three league matches without a win despite leading 2-0 in two of those games.

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“It’s obviously going to be nice to be back home and not on the bus again because last week was a tough week,” Donaldson admitted.

“It is what it is, we can’t complain about it and we’ve got another one [at Exeter City] next week so we have to be used to it and not let it bother us.

“If we complained then it wouldn’t do us any good because we’re on it a lot. We’re just disappointed we didn’t get the two wins we should have.

“It’s six points we’ve dropped now after going 2-0 up this season with the Fylde game earlier in the season as well.

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“Six points makes a lot of difference to where we’d be in the table.

“Once you can sort of accept but twice and three times in quick succession, you’ve got to have a proper look at what is going wrong in order to put it right.

“It was frustrating and annoying after playing so well for the first 55-minutes or whatever it was at Ebbsfleet.”

On what he’s expecting from Boreham Wood on Saturday, Donaldson added: “I know a few of their lads, they’re big at the back and crosses you don’t really get much joy from so you’ve got to move them around a bit and find a way around them.

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“They’ve got a good striker [Kabongo Tshimanga] who is one of the top scorers in the league so we’ll have to keep an eye out for him.

“But in home games it’s our prerogative to go forward and attack and we’d like to get 2-0 up again and win the game this time, that’s the plan!”