Pools aim to bounce back at the Vic

Messing about with the FA Cup is all very well, but Hartlepool United’s bread and butter is in League One and they get back to basics this weekend after the disappointment of losing at Watford in the third round of the Cup. Dagenham and Redbridge are the visitors to the Vic, and a home win is vital if they want to maintain recent progress.

Pools started the season as cannon fodder for too many other League One teams, but Mick Wadsworth (right) has transformed Pools and, building on the foundations of a solid away record, has turned Pools into a force to be reckoned with.
Losing 4-1 at Watford was not as bad as it looked, the Championship side showing their class in the second half after Pools had done well for an hour.
But losing 3-0 in the League at Notts County four days before was a major blow, though Wadsworth admitted that the scoreline was a bit of a false one because his team, conceded two further goals after chasing the game in the second half.
The common denominator for those two games was the absence of skipper Sam Collins – if anybody doubted the massive contribution he has made to one of the best defensive records in the League this season, those two results should put the record straight.
His knee ligament injury is not as bad as was first feared, but Wadsworth could still go into the loan market if he is told that the big man is out for any longer than this week.
Dagenham made a solid start to life in the League and were promoted last season, but League One has not been kind to them so far and they are second bottom of the table with just n18 points.
However, they have won two and drawn two of their away games, so they are capable of springing the odd surprise.
Wadsworth wants his players to bounce back after the Watford setback and he said: “We don’t have to lift the players after that, they can take a lot of pride for an hour it was a real good performance.
“Now we have to get things back against Dagenham.”
Pools’ confidence should not have taken too much of a hammering at Watford, the consensus of opinions being that they lost but were by no means hammered.
A weekend win will soon consign two bad away results to history.