CRAIG Hignett won’t give up his long-term principles in favour of a short-term fix.

Hartlepool United suffered defeat at Doncaster on Saturday – galling said Hignett – as they conceded a last-minute goal to lose 2-1.

Tonight they take on Accrington Stanley at home seeking an instant response to the reverse.

A point for Pools would, despite the thoughts of home boss Darren Ferguson, have been a deserved one.

But as they looked to tighten up the defence with the introduction of an extra centre-half in the form of Rob Jones and shift to a five-man back line, instead they opened up and left a gap for Rovers to exploit.

Hignett has long lamented the absence of both Jones and Matthew Bates, but both are back in the side now.

However, there remains a youthful outlook to the back line. But Hignett insists the club’s long-term view is key to how they operate.

“Moving forward we have to look at it (defensive lapses),’’ said the manager. “We have some good young players here who are worth money and we want to give them a pathway to the first-team, develop them and sell them on.

“So bringing in players with experience for the short-term isn’t something I think we can do.

“It’s hard to balance it out, but the people playing have played enough games now. Josh, it’s his first season, but Lewis Hawkins and Jordy Richards have played a lot of games so they should be good for it.

“There comes a time when they have to improve and be better than they were last week, last month.

“When they aren’t better then maybe they have gone as far as they can.’’

Pools have dropped too many points this season because of lapses in concentration; Saturday was no different.

Tonight they face Stanley, who lost to Stevenage at home at the weekend.

And Hignett admits he is confident of a positive response from his side.

“If we kept our discipline we would have been OK at Doncaster,’’ he admitted. “We looked dangerous and we have to defend properly and we did right up to the 90 th minute.

“We have to be at it, full-tilt, and if we aren’t at with the ball then workrate, attitude and discipline has to be and our discipline let us down.

“The performance was good against a team at the top of the league, but we have to learn from it. I can’t say the game thing week in, week out.

“You have to defend better than what we had.

“It’s no good for 90 per cent of the game, if you don’t then this happens.

“We are down, disappointed in there, but we have a chance Tuesday to put it right.

Pools’ goal was scored by Padraig Amond on Saturday, the striker netting his fifth in seven games. He spent two years at Stanley, netting 18 goals in 78 games as he was mainly played in a wide position rather than his preferred forward role.

His former boss John Coleman is well aware of the threat posed.

He said: “Hartlepool are like any team in League Two at the moment. They can be very good on their day and they can win games but they can lose them too. I watched their game from the weekend and after Padraig Amond hit the post for them Doncaster immediately went up the other end and scored. It’s a two goal swing in 15 seconds and that happens in this division.

“Podge will be a danger. I like him as a lad, he’s a good character and a good fella. He’s a good player who will be a threat because he knows where the net is. We’ll be trying to keep him quiet on the pitch. It’s harder to stop him talking!”