WITH victory secured, there was relief and emotion for Scott Harrison.

The Hartlepool United centre-half, once of Darlington and signed from Sunderland earlier this season, was man of the match in Saturday’s win at Morecambe.

With time and hope running out, Pools couldn’t afford to slip up – likewise they need to perform again at Oxford tomorrow.

Boss Ronnie Moore was full of praise for Harrison, David Mirfin and Dan Jones at the back.

“The three central-defenders were solid and Scott Harrison was majestic – and he has been since he signed from Sunderland,’’ he said.

“He headed everything away and, in the dressing room after the game when I finished talking to them all, he said he felt a bit emotional in there and wanted to cry!

“It just shows a big centre-half, brave as hell, fully committed and what it means to him!

And Harrison admitted: "I was a bit emotional afterwards, it means a lot.

"I felt a bit like, this is it, now or never. We need to start doing it. I felt the emotion definitely, it was there.

"The performance was a world away from the Burton defeat last week.

"If you work hard you will grind the results out, that late goal against Burton just killed us, especially the time we conceded.

"To bounce back and get the win, it just turns everything on its head. It is a good feeling to win away and get a clean sheet.

"The gaffer was sick of talking about it, that has gone now and hopefully we can keep a clean sheet as well against Oxford.’’

And Harrison was quick to praise the travelling fans for their support, who offered encouragement aplenty from start to finish.

"The scenes at the end were great,’’ he reflected. "The fans were brilliant and you could hear them a lot more than the Morecambe fans - to hear them like that when we are in the position we are in gives you a huge boost.

"The fans really spur you on, as soon as you walk out and they are just constantly singing.

"I said to Brad (Walker) as we walked out, how good does that sound?

"We wanted to give them something back.’’