John Askey explains Hartlepool United tactical decision in Newport County defeat

Askey had enjoyed a bright start to his tenure at the Suit Direct Stadium having gone eight unbeaten prior to their trip to Rodney Parade.

Within that time, Askey had not moved from his starting formation of three centre-backs before showing his flexibility within games to change things around which has resulted in Hartlepool finishing games strongly in recent weeks.

But for their trip to South Wales, Askey decided to ditch his go-to system in favour of starting with a back four for the first time since his arrival in a move which would, ultimately, backfire.

Askey was stretched defensively with Jamie Sterry unable to feature in the right wing-back role while centre-back Peter Hartley remained sidelined with concussion.

And with Matt Dolan ineligible, it meant Taylor Foran was the only other central defensive option if Askey were to start with a back three.

As it happened, Foran was called into action midway through the first half after Euan Murray was taken off injured with Askey’s ploy of starting with a back four working against him as Pools slipped to a disappointing 2-0 defeat.

Askey told The Mail on his tactical decision: “We all have to look at ourselves, myself included and ask can we do better?

“I’ll look at myself in terms of changes of formation or changes at the break. In hindsight it might not have mattered what system we played.

“Obviously I was conscious of it before the game but with the personnel we’ve got, we probably wanted to play with the wing-backs against theirs, we felt we couldn’t today.”

Despite the defensive availability of those within the Hartlepool squad, or lack of, Askey also suggested he was willing to persist with the system and personnel who finished strongly against Stevenage when earning a draw on Easter Monday.

Hartlepool have often finished games in a defensive four under Askey, and this was an opportunity to see whether they could do so from the off.

“With how we’ve performed, going with a back four was the big thing and playing people who have been playing well. That’s the reason behind it, nothing more than that really. Just trying to get as many people on the pitch who have been doing well,” Askey said.

“We’re trying to get the most out of the players we’ve got and with how we finished the game on Monday we thought that was the best way to go.

“It wasn’t so much systems, it’s more individuals not doing their jobs properly. But I can’t criticise them because they’ve given us everything in the last eight or nine games. We were just sloppy and loose in our play.

“We don’t have to get too carried away because there’s been a lot of positive performances from the team and we have to remember that as well.

“It’s one game and we’ve got to move on from it.”