Keith Curle praises 'committed' Hartlepool United performance but has this message for his players

Curle guided his side to back-to-back wins for the first time since February as goals from Rollin Menayese and Callum Cooke helped seal a significant result at the bottom of League Two as Pools leapfrogged their opponents with victory at the Crown Oil Arena.

Curle admitted his squad has been tested at times in the lead up to the game in Greater Manchester with a number of players struggling with illness and slight injuries, but they were able to see off Rochdale’s second half resurgence following Ian Henderson’s clever equaliser to claim a huge win ahead of a double-header at the Suit Direct Stadium.

“We’ve had some illness within the camp, we’ve had a few people carrying knocks that have managed to get through and we’ve had people missing training,” said Curle.

“We can still do better, and that’s not trying to take the shine off it.

“I thought in the first half we were very good for about 35 minutes, we dominated possession of the ball and looked a threat. Just going into the final third we needed a little bit more combination play and a little bit more understanding, but we looked a threat from set pieces.

“We had a number of them and you’re thinking if we keep knocking on the door we’re going to have a chance. But we’re disappointed with aspects of the second half, even though that’s when we scored the winning goal.

“We could have made it a little bit easier for ourselves. We had to change our shape and our personnel and it was a good reaction from the lads who came on. There was some good defending. It was a committed performance.”

While Curle had acknowledged the significance of the fixture ahead of the trip to the Crown Oil Arena, he was also just as keen to suggest Hartlepool’s season would not depend on the result.

And having taken all three points, Curle was pleased to highlight the work of the previous 10 days following the Newport County postponement.

“Unfortunately we still only get three points,” said Curle.

“It would have been nice if it was a massive game and we got 16 points and we could all enjoy our season and look forward to games. But it was massive for the changing room.

“We’ve used the time wisely. We’ve had 10 days of training, with the game being called off, and we’ve had an opportunity to ramp up the intensity of our training and that’s in possession and out of possession.

“In the first half we showed glimpses of what we’re trying to produce. The second half shows there’s still an understanding that we’ve got work to do.

“It’s about getting used to winning games and understanding what you’ve got to do to win games because sometimes it’s got to be ugly. You can’t always play through a team or have that individual brilliance that you’re going to pull a team apart.

“Sometimes you have to understand how not to get beat, more so away from home, which is sometimes doing the ugly side of the game well.”