'That should fester in the back of the players’ memories for the rest of their careers' - Dave Challinor's remarkable message to Hartlepool United squad

Pools produced a much-improved display in the FA Cup defeat to Salford at the weekend but Challinor admits the heavy home loss to Torquay the week prior remains firmly fresh in the memory.

And while he admits he will move on from it at some stage, it should always remain a fresh memory for the players in a bid to inspire them to better performances.

Questioned over whether the team had moved on from that Torquay defeat, Challinor told the Mail: “I don’t think we can move on from the Torquay result because there is still work to do.

"I think once we’ve performed in a manner where we’ve looked solid defensively for three, four, five, 20 games, I might move on from it but that should fester in the back of the players’ memories for the rest of their careers really because it wasn’t good enough and we’ve got to try and right the wrongs.”

Reflecting on the FA Cup first round defeat at Salford, Challinor said: “When you’re away to a Football League side in the FA Cup, you need things to go your way and you need to take your chances.

"There’s lot of things that happened in the game, the referee booked Claudio for a dive which was a free-kick then their number 12 [Di’Shon Bernard] dives after being booked and they could be down to 10 men, there can be lots of things that happen over the course of the game.

"We could have done with a little bit of luck but if I’m being critical, which it’s my job to be at times, we’ve got to be better in terms of the opportunities we create.

"When we make a decision to shoot when a player is standing there with an open goal, then we’ve got to score.

"Those are the decisions that define the very best players from those players who go through their careers having not reached the levels they aspire to be at.”

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