Oliver Finney's special praise for Hartlepool United supporters as ex-Crewe Alexandra man scores first goal against Swindon Town
Oliver Finney has hailed Hartlepool United supporters for their impact after scoring his first goal for the club in the win over Swindon Town.
Finney struck in the 94th minute to complete a stunning turnaround and spark jubilant scenes at the Suit Direct Stadium.
And the midfielder, who joined the club on transfer deadline day in January, has praised the Hartlepool supporters for their backing, insisting they are the reason why the team continue to find late goals in games since the arrival of John Askey.
“I’ve been dying to score a goal for a long time now and I’m buzzing,” said a delighted Finney.
“That’s actually the first goal I’ve ever scored coming off the bench but the fans, with 10 minutes to go at 1-0 down and in the position we are in, they were unbelievable.
“It’s no coincidence as to why we keep scoring late goals because the atmosphere is unbelievable. I’ve not experienced many places like it when they get behind you. They deserve to be higher in the league.
“With the group of players we’ve got we should be a lot higher so hopefully we can give the fans something more to cheer about.”
Finney has had to remain patient under Askey after finding himself out of the team in recent weeks.
The midfielder had been more of a regular under Keith Curle after ending his 16-year stay with Crewe Alexandra in January, but the 25-year-old had only featured once from the bench under Askey, in his first game in charge against Walsall, ahead of his match-winning cameo against Swindon.
But while Finney has been frustrated not to be involved more, he acknowledges how well his team-mates have been performing in recent weeks to keep him out of the side.
“For me being on the bench it’s been tough,” Finney admitted to The Mail.
“We haven’t been winning so you expect to be playing, but I also know that the lads have been playing really well so that’s why I haven’t been playing. But when it all comes together, like it has today, there’s no better feeling.”
Finney added: “You can see from the games we’ve played, we’re playing against Leyton Orient and I think we were the better team. We went away to Bradford and we’ve held our own there which is a tough place to go.
“You wouldn’t have thought they were in the play-offs and we were in the relegation zone, so it just shows the quality of players we’ve got.
“It’s just about winning football games, and that’s hard sometimes. But now we’re unbeaten in a while and we’ve won a game, we’ve just got to carry on.”
Pools have seven games remaining this season to preserve their Football League status and Finney believes they have what it takes to overhaul at least one of those teams above them after the victory over Swindon left Hartlepool just two points from safety.
“We’ve got seven games left, we’re all in it together, and the fans are clearly on board,” said Finney.
“All the players back each other. We back the manager and the manager backs us so hopefully we get out of it.”