Simon Grayson insists there's still plenty of room for improvement after Hartlepool United beat Braintree Town
Hartlepool United manager Simon Grayson was delighted after Pools secured their first win of the season on Saturday, beating Braintree Town 2-0.
However, the new Pools boss, who has made a strong start to life at Victoria Park, insists his players can keep getting better and has challenged them to meet his high standards. While Pools, who are bedding in 12 new summer signings, might still be a work in progress, there were plenty of positives from the weekend's performance. Harvey Cartwright, who saved John Akinde's second half penalty, kept a second successive clean sheet while the likes of Reiss McNally, Jay Benn, Jermaine Francis and Alex Reid, who opened his Pools account from the spot after 55 minutes, all impressed.
Pools were favourites to win the game against a Braintree side who finished 17th last season. Even so, the Iron are no pushovers and kicked off their new campaign with a thumping 3-0 win over Halifax, who finished in the play-offs last term. Steve Pitt's side were well-organised and physically strong, with veteran John Akinde proving a real handful up front. Nonetheless, Pools were the better team throughout most of the contest and went ahead when the unfortunate Aidan Francis-Clarke turned Danny Johnson's ball into his own net, while the hosts doubled their advantage 10 minutes after the break when Alex Reid, who scored 17 goals in 32 games for Wealdstone last season, beat West Ham loanee Mason Terry from the spot; Iron skipper George Langston was sent off in the process of conceding the penalty. Despite being down to 10 men, the visitors rallied and spurned a gilt-edged chance to get back into the game when Cartwright saved Akinde's penalty 20 minutes from time after skipper Tom Parkes had fouled the experienced striker in the area. Although there is still room for improvement, it has been a positive start to the new season for Pools, who have picked up four points from their opening two matches and are still to concede a goal this term.
"I'm really pleased - a clean sheet and three points on the board," Grayson told The Red Radio.
"There were some things we did well, and things that I know we still need to do better. I've got high standards and I want to make sure that players manage games properly and deal with different scenarios. Today, for example, we gave a penalty away, which happens in football, but at 2-0 with 15 minutes to go against 10 men, we should be controlling that game a lot more easily. These are things to learn from, which we do every day; I learn every day about the players and the team, and they're learning different things about what we're doing as staff."