MATTHEW BATES has been written off more times than he cares to remember, but he keeps hitting back.

One cruciate knee ligament injury would be enough to finish off most footballers, but Bates is still playing after five of them.

Now he’s in a different situation at Hartlepool United; he’s in charge of a side which has to win today.

Pools go to Cheltenham with Bates in charge of Pools following last weekend’s dismissal of Dave Jones.

Victory and Pools drag Cheltenham into the relegation mix for the final game of the season, on a day when today’s opponents go to Portsmouth as Pools take on Doncaster.

Newport, sitting between the sides, are at Carlisle today.

Pools can’t be safe today, but they can go down. It’s something Bates won’t entertain.

"It's been frantic, daunting in a way because you have so many people relying on you,’’ he reflected. "I've had injuries and always fought back, I've been written off and I've always got back.

"I enjoy it. I enjoy going home with tactic on my brain, my missus might not like it but I do.

“I just get on with it, try to take it in my stride, be exactly the same with the players.

"It's been too quick to try to think about things. I think I'm taking to it.’’

He added: "Possibly Cheltenham are under more pressure, we're chasing and we're relying on other teams,’’ he said. "We could win two games and still go down.

"We need to go out and do it. This is an opportunity of a lifetime for the lads to go and achieve something.

"OK, we did not want this at the start of the season, but we are here and that is our message, "Cheltenham will be nervous that we are chasing them.

"I've got to try to take some of those nerves away from our players.

Jones was dumped on Sunday, Bates put in control along with Billy Paytner, Stuart Parnaby and Ian Gallagher.

The spirit and atmosphere around the club has changed in an instant and Bates said: "We saw a reaction from them straight away and it's carried on.

"We've planned our sessions on how we are going to play on Saturday and it's worked well, the players have responded.

"The lads have asked questions on what we are doing and that's good, we want an inquisitive dressing room.

"The players will know the jobs they have to do."

Of Pools’ gang of four, Bates, who has his B licence and plans to start his A licence in the summer, said: "They all bring different things.

"Stewy and Billy have played at a high level. We've debated things and I'm sure there'll be plenty of late nights, but we'll be fine.

"Billy is champing at the bit, he hasn't played so he really wants to help.

"It's given him a new lease of life.

"He can't help on the field because of his operation but he can now help out on this side.

"Billy is a character, the lads like him and have taken to him."

Gallagher made one senior appearance for Pools, some 20 years ago. The physio is part of the fabric of the club and no-one cares more than him.

"He thinks he is a Terry Butcher figure,’’ joked Bates. "There's no-one more passionate than Buster and the lads know it and love him.

"The chairman has a huge respect for him, rightly so for his service at the club and how much it means to him.

“It's good for the lads to see how much the club means to him and so many people.

"He has a huge respect from the players.’’

The four have burned the midnight oil to prepare for today and Bates, likely to start in central defence alongside Scott Harrison today, was part of Pools’ Great Escape of two years ago.

He added: “It’s a different situation, we were 10 points adrift then, we were the ones chasing and we managed to get out of it.

"This is different, we've been chased and with two games to go we are the ones doing the chasing with two games to go.

"There are a lot of different people here as well from before. It's difficult to try to relate to it.

"But if we did it then, we can do it now."