Nicky Featherstone hoping Solihull Moors comeback can inspire Hartlepool United towards National League play-offs
Hartlepool United manager Nicky Featherstone is hoping the manner of Saturday's remarkable 4-3 win over Solihull Moors will help inspire his side towards the National League play-off places.
Featherstone described the showdown in the West Midlands as a must-win game for his team but Pools looked dead and buried midway through the first half after the Moors raced into a two-goal lead thanks to a contentious Conor Wilkinson penalty as well as a bizarre Gavan Holohan own goal.
At that stage, Solihull looked set to leapfrog Pools in the table and Featherstone's side would have found themselves seven points adrift of Southend United, who climbed into the top seven after comprehensively beating Brackley Town. With the Shrimpers having played three games fewer than Pools, it would have been hard to see how they could have overhauled the Essex outfit between now and the end of the season.
Yet somehow, from somewhere, Pools summoned up a remarkable fightback and drew level thanks to quickfire goals from Alex Reid, one of five former Moors men in the starting XI at Damson Park, and Jamie Miley. With Solihull likely having flashbacks to their last home game when the Moors forfeited a two-goal lead to lose at home to Eastleigh, Pools pressed on and produced a much-improved performance in the second half, edging ahead for the first time all afternoon when the outstanding Tyrese Sinclair, who found the net three times in 10 games during a productive spell on loan at Solihull earlier in the season, turned home substitute Matty Daly's looping ball.
There was still time for more drama as Sinclair looked to have put Pools out of sight thanks to a low free-kick in added time only for the hosts to hit back late on when substitute Emmanuel Sonupe acrobatically fired in the rebound after Bradley Stevenson's spot-kick had cannonned back off the crossbar.
Although there were still another 90 seconds or so to play, Pools held firm to secure a momentous win in remarkable circumstances - the second year in a row in which they've beaten Solihull 4-3 at Damson Park.
Now, Pools will be hoping to use the victory - and in particular that dramatic manner of it - to push on towards the National League play-off places. Certainly, Pools still look to have it all to do and Southend appear to be strong favourites at this stage while Halifax Town, who dropped out of the top seven after being thumped by title-chasing York City at the weekend, will also be eager to have a say but Featherstone's side have at least kept themselves in contention ahead of Wednesday night's visit of rivals Carlisle United.
"I think that win and how we won the game will definitely help this group more than if we'd had a standard 2-0 win," Featherstone said.
"I 100 per cent think that should give them confidence, we've talked about setbacks a lot in my time and we've come back from going behind on a few occasions now - Gateshead and this (Solihull) stick out for me. It gives the players the opportunity to reflect and show that they are capable of coming back from setbacks. This should boost the lads quite significantly.
"It's hard to measure character but there's loads of resilience in this group, there's loads of experience, there's loads of know-how; these lads know how to win games of football. There was probably a lack of confidence previously because we were on a really bad run when I took over.
"It's just about building that confidence day to day, reassuring them that they're good players and giving them confidence to keep winning games of football."