Paul Hartley admits 'I won't hide away from results' as winless Hartlepool United look ahead to Crewe Alexandra

Pools remain without a win in the league having taken just three points from a possible 21 available to them.

Yet Hartley believes his side should have more points on the board given some of their performances this season, but knows his side need a win sooner rather than later.

“I think if you look back at the home games against Wimbledon and Tranmere, you can possibly take maximum points from that,” said Hartley.

“Then it was fine margins last week, we got caught with a sucker punch in the 94th minute which felt like a defeat after the game.

“So I do think we should have more points but that’s what it is, we have to start winning games.

“I’ll never hide away from the results, that’s for sure. I’m always honest and upfront about how we perform. If we’re good I’ll tell you, if we’re not good I’ll tell you.”

But with seven games down, the season is already approaching what is often considered an early milestone with 10 games on the board, and so far things have not transpired as Hartley would have liked.

Asked recently by The Mail when he believes the table starts to take shape, Hartley said: “It’s hard to tell sometimes. I think between 10 and 15 games is where you really start to see where you think you could be, but we want to try and get on a run.

“They’re a good set of lads but just getting that first victory will calm things down a bit.”

Pools did get off the mark away from the league recently when beating Harrogate Town in the opening group game of the Papa Johns Trophy.

But speaking after his first win as manager with Pools, Hartley remained aware results away from the league will not always alleviate any potential pressure a manager could find themselves under.

“It’s a big job that we’ll embrace and we’ll work hard to get it right,” said Hartley.

“It takes a little bit of time and unfortunately these days you don’t get a lot of time, you don’t get a lot of patience. We’ve seen what’s happened with a couple of managers early in the season. I think it’s wrong. But that’s the business we’re in now.

“We put ourselves under pressure. I’ve been doing this a long time so I'm quite aware of what goes on in the game.

“But we’re working really hard here. We’ve tried to change a lot of things. We’ve tried to get the group right. We’ve tried to get a team that can compete.

“This is a tough league. We aren’t at the top end in terms of budgets. We’re fighting with half a dozen teams to try and make ourselves better.

“Sometimes it can take a little bit longer, but I understand it's a results driven business so we’ve got to win football games. That's the key thing.”

Pools are set to return to action against Crewe Alexandra in midweek after the fixture with Doncaster Rovers was postponed following the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.