FOR HARTLEPOOL United it’s been all about game management; seeing games out in the last week.

Technical terms may be alien to many in League Two, but it’s all about the ways and means introduced by Craig Hignett.

The Pools’ boss praised his players for how they controlled the closing stages of the game at Exeter from a winning position seven days earlier.

He was slightly critical of how they threw the lead away against Notts County on Saturday.

Leading thanks to an early Toto Nsiala finish, the majority of performance was flat and tame. Amid a flat atmosphere inside The Northern Gas and Power Station, Notts turned it around.

“It’s about game management. They have to recognize that as players and do something on the pitch,’’ reflected Hignett.

“The disappointing thing is we got our noses in front, sat back and just coasted through the game. I said to Buster our physio they’ll score here and they did.’’

He added: “We had a spell where if Batesy scored we might have won comfortably but Notts County stuck in, dug in and in the end turned the game around in their favour. You have to give them credit.

“We have to got to get the balance between all out attack and defending when we haven’t got the ball. At the moment we don’t have that.’’

At Crewe in midweek it was all-out attack as they trailed 3-1 to draw 3-3. This time around chances were too scarce.

Notts, in the first-half, looked like a team without a win and learning their game under a new manager.

By the time John Sheridan put Alan Smith on to get a foothold in midfield they looked an effective unit.

Smith’s first touch was to slide, stick a foot in, and win possession, a break from which Jon Stead beat Trevor Carson with a shot that came back off the far post.

It was a let-off for Pools at a time they were uneasy and lacking shape. With Pools’ midfield quiet and absent, Smith’s application turned the game.

Matthew Bates, who went close to doubling Pools’ lead with a sweetly-struck volley which hit the inside of a post, echoed the sentiments of his manager.

“At Exeter we saw the game out well, this time we did the opposite. The manager spoke in the dressing room and said when we are under the cosh a bit, especially playing 4-4-2 like we did in the majority of the game, you have to be a bit narrow and tuck in and I don’t think we did it well enough.

“When it was, I thought at least, end to end in the second half, we pressed on and wanted a goal. Do we keep it tight, or go for another goal to make it two?

“At Crewe we opened up and it worked, maybe it’s down to a bit of inexperience on Saturday as a team that we didn’t keep it solid and sit tight.

“It’s frustrating that we are so dominant for a long time and then lose. I’ve said a lot of times that most teams in this league are very similar.

“One team can dominate a game for 45 minutes, then the other 45 minutes by the other team.

“It’s hard to say why, it’s a tight league. It would be nice to come out and dictate possession and territorial advantage and go in at half-time with a couple of goals advantage, but we were happy at one and being in front.

“We felt we could go on and get another goal, or see it out defensively with a clean sheet.’’

After falling behind, Pools switched to 4-3-3 and looked happier with an extra body in midfield.

Visiting keeper Adam Collin was safe throughout and, at the other end of the pitch, Stead was always a threat.

In between they had Adam Campbell, busy throughout, but an appalling loan signing made by Pools in 2014.

Nathan Thomas had one opening, early in the second-half when he forged into the area, but was crowded out before he could get a shot away.

The strikers Billy Paynter and Padraig Amond had little joy. Paynter was given zero protection by the referee when grappled by both Louis Laing and Richard Duffy, much to his frustration. Amond’s honest workrate brought little reward.

Back to back home games after good away results were supposed to set Pools’ up nicely. It doesn’t quite work out like that.