CHRIS Turner believes the Pool">Hartlepool fans are now seeing the real Adam Boyd, after the striker took his tally to four for the season.

Hartlepool United paid £80,000 to bring him back to Victoria Park from Leyton Orient in the summer.

His goal put Pools on the way to a 2-2 draw at Stockport on Tuesday and, with his match sharpness returning after missing the end of last season through injury, Boyd is showing signs of his best form.

“It was fitness with Adam,’’ said Turner.

“He had missed the last two months of the season at Orient, he’d had his summer, came back as the blue-eyed boy and we signed players after we came back.

“You can’t get general sharpness in five weeks playing the teams we played in pre-season and it can take a little bit of time.

“I’ve said to Adam that there are people who want to see him fail and people who want to see him succeed.

“He knows he has the support of me and Colin West and we want to see him succeed because we have got him back here.

“And I think he is showing the signs of a good Adam Boyd now. You can see in his running now and closing down a real determination.

“He is closing down and running in behind and holding the ball up against big centre halves and he is doing well.’’ Pools head to Exeter tomorrow for Saturday’s game and, after taking four points this week so far, Turner and his squad have their sights on turning a promising week into a very good one.

“If we can get a point or three on Saturday it would make a good seven days,’’ he admitted.

“Look at Tuesday night’s game. We can beat anybody and compete with anyone in this division.

“We might not be able to compete with some of the big clubs at the top but it’s not an easy league to play in, as certain big clubs have found out in the last few weeks.

“They have spent a lot of money and are finding out what League One is all about.

It’s a very, very difficult league.

“You can get beaten by anybody but I also believe you can beat anybody.

“It’s having that consistency.

It tends to be a tight division right throughout the season and I think it will be no different.

“From our point of view if we win our home games then we won’t have a problem.

“End of story. If we are drawing at home and losing away we will be where we were last season and that is where we are trying not to be.”