AS far as gruelling months go, they don’t come much more taxing than March proved for Hartlepool United.

They started with a 4-1 thumping at Bristol Rovers, as they perched precariously on the edge of the relegation zone.

Six games later, after racking up an unprecedented 2,182.2 miles on the road last month in travelling to five away games , they are unbeaten and have raked in 14 points from a possible 18 to lift themselves to the heady heights of 17th in League Two.

Second-bottom York are now 14 points behind Pools and facing up to relegation.

Monday’s win at Leyton Orient brought a fourth-successive clean sheet.

The new ideas engineered by Hignett and coach Curtis Fleming has not only brought points, but a fresh outlook.

“March has been a big month, a nightmare travelling and Marty Brown (the club’s kit man) got deep vein thrombosis from the travelling - it’s been that severe,’’ said Hignett.

“The mileage has been unbelievable from the Bristol Rovers game right up to Orient on Monday. Everything is a six-hour job and we are getting back from midweek games at four/five in the morning.

“I couldn’t ask for any more from the lads – if I looked at March and looked at the travelling we had after getting done at Bristol Rovers, a bit of a one-off for me, I couldn’t ask for any more.

“Then we went from Bristol, one game when you look and ask what’s going on, to winning at Barnet. I felt we would get a few of those games, a few blips before we got to where we want to be, but we haven’t.

“The only problem could be complacency and thinking you have cracked it, but I won’t allow that to happen.’’

Hignett gave his players two days off following Monday’s win and they were back on the training ground yesterday morning in preparation for Saturday’s home game with Mansfield Town.

With no injury concerns to ponder, and his players in the form of their season, it will be same again at Victoria Park, a fifth successive game for the same starting XI.

"The lads have thoroughly deserved their rewards - against Wimbledon last Friday we held off a lot of late pressure and I rate Leyton Orient as our best away performance,’’ he mused.

"I'm really pleased with how the players are going through their business, we are picking up the points we deserve.

"While we are not going for the play-offs or anything like that, there are aims there for us.

"We have four clean sheets in a row so let's see how far we can go with that?

"We are six unbeaten, so how long can we keep that going?

"If someone said you'd be safe with nine games to go, I'd have taken that all day long.

"At one point it looked like it was going to go down to the wire, but I'm so happy with how they have responded to how I've wanted them to play.’’

Pools now sit comfortably in 17th spot in League Two. Hignett is now hoping that in the remaining nine games they can bridge the nine-point gap to Barnet in 15th position.

"I want to catch Crawley, they are five points above us with nine matches left,’’ he said. "Once we catch them, then we'll look to get to the next team, see how high we can get.

"We'll always have targets. I don't want an end-of-season feel, I want us to finish on a high.

"I want a real feel-good-factor going into the summer and everyone looking forward to next season.

"It's important we don't relax, but while we're on this run and have kept these clean sheets I don't think we'll do that.’’