Hartlepool United: Short-term lift can lead to a long-term improvement at Pools

Pools go to Morecambe this afternoon seeking one of the two wins from their remaining six games which should be enough to keep them out of the bottom two spots in the Football League.

There’s a five-point gap between Pools and Newport.

And while Jones won’t shy from making sure his players know the magnitude of their situation, one they have been in too many times before, he has called on his players to prove their worth.

“It’s a continuation of the hard work we are doing and everyone knows how important the games are – we put that into the players every day,’’ he insisted.

“We all have that responsibility and now we all have to go that little bit extra.

“Confidence is good as performances haven’t warranted results at times. We have to try and get those wins on the board again, we had a stage of doing well, then dipped, then come back again and that’s generally been the season looking back over it.

“They have their ups and downs and have to get back to winning ways – or stop losing at least.

“We are inconsistent, but that’s the same across the board. If you are looking for consistency there has to be a certain way of playing you believe in, what people will buy into. There has to be a plan if you want to be performing consistently in a league.

“It doesn’t matter in League Two, the Championship or the Premier League.

“I feel we have such a good high and then a low – there’s no in-between. That’s down to a lack of experience, playing kids learning their trade, little things upset them when it doesn’t go for them and it’s all a learning process which we haven’t got time for right now.’’

Jones has been surprised by the fitness levels and lack of depth in the squad he inherited.

He’s been steadily satisfied with how his players have adopted to his methods, but fully accepts the limitations in the squad are holding progress back.

“Where we are now, it’s all part of the learning process and the sort of things you put into players in pre-season,’’ he said. “We are trying to do things now and introduce things and there’s so much we want to do and we are starting to show them step by step, bit by bit.

“I said before they have responded well to it and it’s hard work for them. What we are trying to do and we have to be careful as they aren’t as fit as they should be. It’s all about getting them sharper at this time of the year.

“There’s a lot of games which reduces what we can do in training and that’s why those months before the season kicks off are so vital to them. They are listening and trying to do it.

“And they are willing to learn which is the most important thing.’’

The manager, with games to come with Carlisle at home and Orient away over the Easter weekend, felt his players dipped back into old habits in defeat to Portsmouth last Saturday.

It was their third successive reverse against teams at the top end of League Two and he said: "That's (adopting bad habits) understandable, everyone does that, that's why you need to bring in new people to help them.

"The two goals were avoidable, they came from our mistakes. They set a trap and we fell into it.

"If we'd got an equaliser when that shot hit the post it could have been a totally different game.

"Goals change games. We were on top but because we were a bit lazy, a bit sloppy, they scored.

"They are the things that let you down in football, they are not massive things either.

"Believe it or not, football is quite an easy game, it's people who complicate it.’’

He added: "We've got to be looking to get points on the board. We've just played three teams who are all up there and pushing.

"The results did not come and we let ourselves down but we were a match for each of them.

"That's what I keep telling the players.

"If we keep the strength we've already got and we add new players to help them, then we won't be far away.

"We are not that far away.

"It's just that final ball, that bit of quality, that right decision.

"That only comes with either them learning pretty quickly or bringing in players who have that.’’