IT hasn’t taken long for Craig Hignett to implement his ideals on the Hartlepool United squad; even if the manager admits he’s having to find different ways of preaching the messages.

Since his appointment two months ago, Hignett has introduced a 4-3-3 formation on the team, while placing an emphasis on passing and keeping possession.

It may seem an alien concept in League Two for a team to pass the ball around, but Hignett isn’t concerned how many times his players move the ball around, as long as they stick with it.

Morecambe, as Pools won 5-2 last weekend, soon got frustrated at the amount of ball Pools had – a total of 63 per cent possession to 37.

But Hignett felt they should have had more of the ball in defeat at Notts County on Tuesday evening.

"There are times you have it for 10, 11, 12 passes but because you've had it for so long you feel you have to force one,’’ he mused. "We kept the ball well on Tuesday night but then we seemed to want to go forward when it wasn't really on.

"We need to keep the ball until someone makes a mistake, or someone loses position.

"If we can go forward then do it, but if there's nothing on, then keep it, keep the ball moving.

"We've asked them to pass it, see what happens. It worked well at Morecambe - they got frustrated and started chasing the ball and that's what you want.

"It was the same in the first half at Notts County and we played around them nicely. It does work, we just missed that final bit at Notts County.’’

When appointed at Victoria Park on February 10, Hignett knew what he wanted do to and how to go about it.

It’s been a promising introduction to management as Hignett steered Pools from third bottom to 16th in League Two.

And he admits getting his message across has proved an issue at times.

The former Middlesbrough assistant manager, who has Curtis Fleming as his right-hand man at Victoria Park, admitted: “I have good players here and I’ve found it’s how I say it, not what I say. We tried to press a couple of weeks before in training, really work at it and it didn’t work and I had to scrap it.

“Then I revisited it a different way and it went about it a different way and we got it. They are the things I’m learning about as a manager and coach – it’s the message you get across, how you go about it to make is stick.

“It’s not about the level of footballer you are coaching, I think that’s an issue across the board. It’s the intelligence of players, Premier League or League Two players. The football brain changes and their football intelligence – some players learn by seeing it, some by doing it, some be showing.

“And there’s different ways of working at it. I think the way we pressed lately has been really good, because it’s been said in a different way it’s sunk in better. And it’s the same with anything you do – attacking, defending, possession and it’s for me as a manager to adapt.’’

For Tuesday’s defeat at Notts County, Hignett was without Jake Carroll (head), Matthew Bates (thigh), Nathan Thomas (chest infection) and Billy Paynter (hamstring).

Three of the four could be in contention at the weekend.

Hignett said: "Jake will train tomorrow (Friday), Tuesday was a precaution after his head injury last Saturday.

"Batesy will not be far away and we'll see how Rob (Jones) is, he's played twice in four days and at 58, that's a fair shift!

"We'll asses it all and we'll see where we are tomorrow and I'll select a squad and team from there that will win us the game.’’

Paynter has missed the last two games after suffering a hamstring strain last Tuesday at Carlisle.

Hignett admitted: “Billy is in for treatment and we see where we are, his hamstring isn’t as bad a thought and we should see him before the end of the season.

“Hamstrings are a funny thing, we have to be careful with him, but at the moment we are pleased with what we see so far.’’