NO FA CUP heroics for Whitby this year but boss Harry Dunn had the perfect pick-me-up for his players: "Ten or 12 pints tonight and they will be as fit as a butcher's dog!"

Following the afternoon his team had at Victoria Park, it was the right response for the part-timers to an ultimately disappointing day.

Plenty of other teams have left Victoria Park with similar - and heavier defeats - in recent years; none have had an answer like that to a defeat.

Whitby arrived aiming to emulate - or even better - their feat of three years ago when they pushed Plymouth all the way.

First 20 minutes aside, there was never any danger of a repeat as Pool had too much for the UniBond League side on their big day out.

Whitby battled, never buckled and kept going to the death. But the difference in strength between eighth in Division Two to 21st in the UniBond Premier Division was there for all to see.

And Dunn, for all the endeavour his side showed, appreciated what he had seen from both teams.

"I thought we started off well for ten minutes and there was some good movement,'' he said.

"But from our point of view we had to score then.

"From our point of view they were bad goals to give away but, to be fair, Hartlepool could have had a few more if I'm honest about it.

"We needed to get one early to give us a chance and keep the players' morale up, but the main thing for me was that we did as well as we could.

"I've watched games like this one where it has gone on to be six or seven - they beat Grimsby 8-1 at home the other week, so that's what they can do, so I can say we did better than them!''

Two goals from Marco Gabbiadini broke the deadlock after an opening 20 minutes when Whitby weren't afraid to take the game to Pool.

But when the chances they had were scuffed away, once Gabbiadini netted, it was game over.

"I like the way Hartlepool play the game, they play good football and keep it simple,'' added Dunn.

"Without a doubt I had certain players at fault for the goals and had it been the other way around, then we wouldn't have got those type of chances.

"Against quality teams like Hartlepool you cannot do that.

"But at least four isn't a bad score, it could have been a lot worse. I think Hartlepool will do alright in the league and cup this season.

"Even in the first 20 minutes, and it was always going to be difficult in the early stages, if we had got one it could have been a different picture.

"But instead they got it and I enjoyed watching the game. It was good experience for my players and they can learn from it.

"I hope when teams come to Whitby and we beat them four or five that we keep on playing football and doing the right things like they did or will we just continue to play at 100 miles an hour?

"Sometimes you have to appreciate what you have seen and I certainly do.''

Dunn admitted before the game that it was a tie he didn't want.

The Pool of five or six years ago would have been an easier task, but not this team.

The Pool of 18 years ago was an attractive proposition to non-league teams.

Because the last time they met a team from outside the Conference at home was in 1985 when Frickley Athletic came to town and headed home with a 1-0 win.

But where the likes of John Gollogly, Alan Shoulder and Marty Hewitt failed, Marco Gabbiadini, Ritchie Humphreys and Mark Tinkler succeeded.

David Linighan was part of that bleak December day in round two, his brother Brian was part of the Whitby team on Saturday.

For the early stages, Pool started without the drive and power you would expect from a professional side.

Instead, Whitby made all the running. Graham Robinson volleyed over, Graham Williams fired a long-range shot over and Ben Dixon squandered a good opening when he put a cross - or was it a shot? - over the Rink End after finding acres of space on the left.

Whitby's five-man defence was content to sit deep and allow Pool to come at them, a tactic which went some way to stifling the home side as Pool lacked the drive and power to take the game to Whitby from the off.

John Brackstone curled a free-kick against the post - he had more luck later - before Gabbiadini's opener.

With his back to goal, a quick glance saw keeper Adam Clementson coming off his line, and he headed Micky Barron's lofted ball in off the underside of the bar.

Four minutes on and Ritchie Humphreys' header found its way to Gabbiadini's feet and he skirted around Clemenston to net goal number nine of the season.

Humphreys netted the next one, taking Gabbiadini's through ball inside Adam Reed before lashing home.

Brackstone capped another solid show when he curled home a free-kick from 25 yards low into the bottom corner.

With the game over after Humphreys' goal the only thing Whitby could manage to worry anyone at Victoria Park was a cry from the 688 away fans of their new-found allegiance for Darlington.

Perhaps some of Dunn's work colleagues from Darlington Memorial Hospital were in the Rink End, ahead of a trip to Hornchurch yesterday.

* In round two Pool will be away to Burton Albion of the Nationwide Conference on the weekend of December 6.

Result: Hartlepool United 4 Whitby Town 0.

Read more about Hartlepool here.