Keith Curle suggests Crawley Town success was 'needed' by everyone at Hartlepool United following Stockport County embarrassment

Curle’s side braved the cold at the Broadfield Stadium as they shut out Matthew Etherington’s team to claim a 2-0 win thanks to Rollin Menayese’s first goal for the club and Travis Johnson’s own goal.

Menayese headed in from Callum Cooke’s corner just after the hour before Cooke would send in another teasing cross 10 minutes from time which saw Reds defender Johnson bundle beyond his goalkeeper Ellery Balcombe to hand Hartlepool a priceless league win.

It’s a win which moved Pools off the bottom of the table and was a first away win in the league since March last season.

But what was particularly pleasing was this was a thoroughly deserved victory for Curle’s side who were in control of large parts of the game after what was a miserable afternoon against Stockport County last weekend.

“Not just purely because of the opposition in the league, but as a football club we needed that,” said Curle.

“We needed the performance and we needed the result. The football club, the changing room, the staff, needed that performance after the embarrassment of being rolled over 5-0 at home last week.”

Curle went on to thank Hartlepool chairman Raj Singh who played a significant role in the preparations for the trip to Crawley in allowing the squad to travel on Thursday instead of on the day.

“Thanks to the football club and the chairman because I had to go and ask for help in our preparations,” said Curle.

“We needed to change our preparation to give ourselves the best opportunity and without hesitation we had two hotels travelling down which was excellent.

“We're very thankful for that and it shows the understanding we’re building and that the stakeholders are listening to give ourselves the best opportunity of a fighting chance.”

And Curle was also keen to reserve special praise for the Hartlepool supporters, 128 of whom made the mammoth trip to West Sussex in sub-zero temperatures, who got to revel in what has been an all too rare away success.

“I don’t know what the total number was of Hartlepool fans, but credit to them and a safe journey home,” said Curle.

“They were phenomenal.”