SCOTT HARRISON has had enough of looking over his shoulder, relying on other teams losing.

Two years ago and Hartlepool United, while pulling off The Great Escape to remain in the Football League, were thankful that Tranmere and Cheltenham were worse than them.

This time around it looks like the turn of Newport and Leyton Orient to take the bottom two relegation spots.

Pools aren’t safe yet, with seven games to go they sit eight points in front of the drop zone with a superior goal difference to boot.

But as Pools lost at Blackpool on Saturday, the good news was that the three teams below them all lost too.

Pools could do with two more wins to make sure of safety, but weekend results mean that one game further down the line, the game remains the same.

There’s a tough one ahead this weekend, as Portsmouth visit The Northern Gas and Power Stadium.

And Harrison admitted: "I feel next week is another massive game.

"If we can put them away and the teams below them don't get a result then we won't be looking over our shoulders as maybe we are now.

"I don't want us to be relying on other teams, I want us to do it for ourselves.

"If they keep losing and we keep losing then we've only stayed up because there are teams worse than us.

"We don't want to be known as a bad team"

Pools aren’t a bad team. They have been, but are improving under Dave Jones. There’s a different game plan and structure to the side now.

Where they do fall short, however, is in squad strength and depth.

Blackpool were able to bring on three substitutes on Saturday, one of them proving the match-winner as Kyle Vassell fluked a cross into the net.

After the replacements first effort was well kept out by Joe Fryer, the ball fell back for him and he hooked an instinctive cross into the area. It looped high and angled across goal, landing the side netting.

Pools didn’t deserve that and, while they did take the game to the home side later on to try and forge a leveller, there was little sign of it.

Lewis Alessandra gave Pools the lead. Padraig Amond headed on to the strike partner he doesn’t have, but chased and harassed and as the ball bounced in the area, three home defenders stood and watched.

Alessandra was sharp enough to take the ball down, turn and fire in his ninth of the season and his fifth in six games.

The lead, however, only lasted three paltry minutes.

Harrison’s pass fell short of Alessandra, the home side broke. Bright Osayi-Samuel took the cross down with an outstretched arm. It wasn’t very bright of the referee not to see it.

But Liam Donnelly stood off him for too long and he was able to create an angle to finish low.

Pools played with some real purpose. Too often away games have passed them by, but not this one.

Nathan Thomas was in and out of the game, but he was always tightly marked. After being chopped down when darting towards goal, referee Darren England played a good advantage as the ball rolled into the path of Padraig Amond.

The top scorer should have been celebrating his 14th of the season, and in front of an impressive 1,684 travelling fans too.

But he pulled across the ball and keeper Dean Lyness kept it out with a boot.

From the corner, Brad Walker’s header was nodded off the line.

Harrison, who signed a new contract at Pools last week, added: "I feel as though we play better against the good teams.

"It's more of a challenge, you want to challenge yourself against the best.

"You can't really say Blackpool were better than us and I think it was the same when we played Plymouth.

"If we play the way we did here, we have a chance.

"In our league, anyone can beat anyone, they lost to Stevenage and we dominated Stevenage at home.’’

He added: "Our supporters were proud of the performance and gave us a great reception at the end.

"They saw the hard work we put in but I still feel we let them down massively.

"The majority of the season our mindset away from home has been one of losing .

"But we know now we are capable of going away from home and winning.

"We won at Cambridge but in the other games I don't think our performances are being reflected in the results.

"Recently we've started sloppily and finished the better team.

"Blackpool came out well but when we got the ball down and played I thought we looked the better team.

"For defenders, we don't think so because we've conceded two goals.

"We did have chances, attacked the ball from set-pieces and caused them problems there.

"We just couldn't take the chances.’’