Paul Hartley remains confident Hartlepool United are 'so close' to first league win

Pools were within minutes of sealing victory in each of their last two league fixtures before crushing late equalisers from Colchester United and Crewe Alexandra.

But Hartley has been keen to keep spirits high this week by trying to focus on the positives of Pools’ situation.

“After the game sometimes you get emotional, but then you sit back and reflect and we did a lot of good things on Tuesday night. It’s just that one moment and lapse in concentration that killed us for getting three points,” explained Hartley.

“It feels like a defeat, it was the same the previous week at Colchester, but we’re so close to getting a result.

“Our points tally should definitely be more, but it isn't. That’s a fact.

“It’s not for the want of trying. I think we’ve seen over the last three games, definitely, we’re doing a lot of things right, it’s just putting that final piece together.

“Gradually, I think we’re getting much stronger and the squad is getting much stronger.

“It’s taken a long time to get the group together, so we’ve just got to keep believing and sticking to your principles that you’ll win games.”

But if Pools are to claim a first three points of the season, they will need to ensure they remain focused throughout the entire 90 minutes plus stoppage time.

At Colchester, Pools conceded in the 94th minute, before Crewe’s 86th minute equaliser in midweek.

It has led to Hartley raising questions about the mentality of his players to see games through - but the Pools boss has dismissed the notion of his side being too negative in the second half of games after highlighting the number of opportunities created against Crewe.

“Sometimes it's a mindset thing. The longer a game goes on you know the opposition is going to throw something at you. But even when we conceded that late equaliser the other night, we went up the pitch and tried to score again,” said Hartley.

“We didn’t want to sit back on a 1-0 win, we wanted to keep going and try and get the second goal, and we could have got the second goal.

“We’re not happy sitting with draws, that’s for sure. But you’ve got to take the positives from the games that we’ve played in that we’re not too far away.

“The things we’re trying to do on the training pitch we can see during the match days, so it’s just trying to put everything together.”

But things don’t get any easier for Pools as they head to the VBS Community Stadium to face a Sutton side they have beaten just once in 10 meetings.

“They’re a strong team and we know what to expect,” said Hartley.

“We’ve got to go there with a game plan to go and be positive to try and win the game. That’s what we set out to do every game.

“The other night we didn’t want to sit back on a one goal lead. So that will be the message to the players, to go and try and be positive and take the game to them.”