John Askey makes Hartlepool United promotion comparison ahead of crucial Easter weekend against Grimsby Town and Stevenage

Askey was able to rejoice having claimed his first win as Hartlepool manager against Swindon Town as he now looks to cement back-to-back wins with a chance to move out of the relegation zone against Grimsby Town on Good Friday.

Pools travel to Blundell Park while Crawley Town host Bradford City with just two points the gap between the two sides at the foot of the table with Askey admitting his players are relishing getting back on the field after their late success over Swindon.

“That’s the thing, it’s more like you’re going for a promotion. That’s how it feels because every time we go out we’re in the right frame of mind,” Askey told The Mail.

“And while we’re in that feel-good moment, there’ll be other teams who are not winning and maybe it’s going to be harder for them. But we’ll see how it turns out.

“Easter is the same as the Christmas period really,” he added.

“We’ve got a lot of games in April. It’s not going to be decided on Friday or Monday but it can have a big bearing.

“We just concentrate on ourselves and hopefully go to Grimsby and put in a good performance. We’ve shown that whoever we play we’ve got more than enough to get three points

“You can see when they’re playing, despite the situation they’re in, they're relaxed when they’re playing and they’re expressing themselves.”

Pools will be backed by a sold-out away following at Blundell Park as they look to secure a league double and score a fourth straight win over the Mariners away from home dating back to 2004.

And last week’s goal hero Oliver Finney has stressed the importance for Pools to build on the win over Swindon as we enter what is often a crucial period over the Easter weekend with the 25-year-old sharing his confidence the club can beat the drop.

“It’s just one game. Everyone is buzzing but we can’t just stop there,” said Finney.

“We’ve got seven games left, it’s seven cup finals. We need to keep going.

“We’ve got to keep winning as many games as we can because the club doesn’t deserve to be in the conference - especially with the group of players we’ve got.

“If you look at the last five or six games we’re unbeaten which shows that we’re a good team.

“We’ve played against good teams as well, but we need to start picking up more three points.

“We’re not looking at how other teams are getting on. We’re looking at ourselves and we believe in ourselves.

“There’s boys not in the squad who are good lads. We’re going to need everyone with seven games to go. It’s massive.

“Whoever's got the shirt has got to put 100 per cent in, whoever is not we’re all in it together, that’s the way it’s got to be. The group of players here are very good and I don’t think the club should be where they are. That’s why I’ve got full confidence we can stay up.”

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