SCOTT LOACH admits it’s going to be a steep learning curve for Hartlepool United.

They started life in the National League with a defeat to Dover on Saturday and, while they have the chance to put it right at Macclesfield this evening before going to Maidenhead at the weekend, the goalkeeper understands all what this division is all about.

He spent time at York last season, a club who struggled to adapt after dropping out of the Football League.

But he’s confident Pools will soon adapt and find their feet following an uncompromising opener.

A few of us knew it would be tough but that's not why we lost,’’ he said. We just never got going.

“We have shown in pre-season, the tempo we played, that we are better than this - we need to raise our standards.

“But it is the first game of the season, although we wanted to win. At least we now know exactly what to expect.’’

He added: “If you have followed this league you will know that is not straight forward.

“Forest Green went 10 or 12 games unbeaten the other year and didn't go up that year. It is not that easy.

“Lincoln didn't start well and went up last year.

“We need to learn to manage games and find a way of winning games ourselves.

“It is hard not to take things too harshly but we have to just learn.

“Maybe there was some nervous energy because of last year but we have no excuses on Tuesday, we need to improve.’’

Macc, who have former Newcastle defender Steve Watson as assistant manager, won at Wrexham on Saturday and have often proved a bogey team for Pools in their Football League days.

Loach added: “It is going to be a test at a small ground. They have been at this level for a number of years and will be a tough test so we have to be ready for that.

“There will be a lot of ups and downs at this level. It is how we react. We need to have bottle and make sure we win at all costs.’’

Pools conceded in the first-half at Victoria Park and rarely looked like getting back into the game, despite some tactical changes by boss Craig Harrison.

“It was very frustrating,’’ admitted Loach. “It wasn't the best of games to play in or to watch - they had a gameplan and stuck to it.

“Sometimes it is better to get these kind of performances out of the way early on and forget about them.

“I have played in this league before.

Teams do what they did very well. They were physical and played a lot of long balls.

It is important that even when teams play direct stuff that we stick to our gameplan and keep trying to play football, without getting frustrated.

We are going to come across this style of play 20 or 30 times this season and we need to make sure that we deal with it.’’