John Askey celebrates new Hartlepool United contract in style against AFC Fylde

Hours before kick-off Hartlepool confirmed the significant news that Askey had agreed to extend his stay in the North East until the summer of 2026 following a positive start to the new National League campaign.

Askey has only been with the club six months but has already made a lasting impression with supporters, and with his long-term future now secure Pools marked the occasion in the perfect way with another impressive display to sweep aside AFC Fylde.

Emmanuel Dieseruvwe scored his third and fourth goals of the season with Callum Cooke grabbing his first goal of the new campaign with a well-taken finish.

Dieseruvwe and Cooke had given Askey’s side a healthy lead heading into half-time before the Coasters were able to claw back the deficit thanks to Gold Omotayo’s goal.

But Dieseruvwe capped a fine Hartlepool move early in the second half to restore Pools’ two-goal advantage – an advantage they would not let slip.

"Yeah it can’t be bad,” Askey told TNT Sports on celebrating his new deal with the club.

"You hope it gives us the platform. It helps me with players when they know that, hopefully, you’re going to be here for a little bit and if we keep winning games then it makes my job a lot easier.”

Askey added: "I was pleased with the majority of the game, I thought we played well for most of it. I was just disappointed that 10 minutes to go before half-time it looked as though we were going to go on and win it comfortably, but then we let them back in.

"But fortunately the lads came out in the second half and they got hold of the game again and we got what we deserved.

“We score a lot of good goals. We don’t score many scruffy goals as such and we need to do that. We need to improve on set pieces, for and against, and we’ll keep working.

"Things like that you can improve on, but the general play, the way we’re playing, I’m really pleased with.”