Mani Dieseruvwe: Hartlepool United talisman confident he can get close to last season's career-best goalscoring tally again this term

The 29-year-old enjoyed the most prolific campaign of his career last term, scoring 25 goals in all competitions.

Having never scored more than 13 in a single season before that, all eyes were suddenly on the former Sheffield Wednesday, Salford and Halifax frontman to see whether he could reach similar goalscoring heights this time around.

It was perhaps little surprise to see him thrive under Kevin Phillips, one of Sunderland's greatest ever strikers, but finding the back of the net under Darren Sarll, who succeeded Phillips in April, proved an entirely different proposition.

Pools were far more direct and Dieseruvwe was asked to do most of his work with his back to goal while the signing of veteran forward Gary Madine seemed to cause more problems than it solved.

Dieseruvwe was visibly frustrated when he was substituted in September's goalless draw with Halifax, while Sarll then dropped him to the bench after scoring just two goals in the first 11 games of the new season.

For all there was a sense that Dieseruvwe might have started snatching at chances, it was clear that Sarll's route one football was not designed to get the best out of him and the talismanic frontman was forced to feed off scraps.

However, he became the first ever Hartlepool United player to come off the bench and score a hat-trick when he helped Pools come from two goals down to secure a remarkable 4-3 win over Sutton and, ironically, probably save Sarll's job in the process.

Dieseruvwe scored from the spot as Pools took on Brackley in an FA Cup fourth qualifying round replay but his goal wasn't enough to save them from a humbling defeat at the hands of the National League North side and their exit from England's most historic competition led to Sarll's sacking.

The striker scored a brace as Pools impressively beat Aldershot on Saturday and looks to be beginning to rediscover his best goalscoring form.

Six goals in his last five games has taken Dieseruvwe's total to a much healthier eight goals in 18 appearances so far this season and the talismanic frontman is now starting to close in on some of the National League's leading scorers.

Under Lennie Lawrence, Pools have started to play more expansive, attacking football and the expectation is that, whoever is appointed Sarll's permanent successor - be that Lawrence, who turns 77 in December, or someone from elsewhere - the change in the dugout is likely to benefit the forward players most of all.

At this stage last season, Dieseruvwe had found the net 11 times and so he might well have his work cut out if he's to repeat the heroics of the previous campaign but the towering talisman has vowed to give it a good go.

"At the start of the season I set out to beat it," he said.

"As a striker, you don't want to be a one-season wonder, you've got to be able to back it up and show that you can score goals season in, season out.

"I've put a lot of pressure on myself to do something similar again and I think I've shown - against Aldershot and Sutton - that when we get the balance right, when we get players that can create chances in the positions to do so, I think I can get close again and help the team to win games."