SUDDENLY things look rosier for Hartlepool United, even if manager Craig Harrison doesn’t feel much has changed since the start of the season.

Pools were struggling at the wrong end of the National League, where they dropped into for the first time in May, after failing to win any of their opening six matches.

But four victories from their last five unbeaten matches has seen Hartlepool climb into a mid-table position and a home win over Eastleigh on Saturday could even see them climb into a play-off place.

The tightness of the league means anything is possible, but Harrison will not be getting carried away having been left scratching his head as to why things weren’t going well in the first place.

He said: “It doesn't feel any different between now and the start of the season. We didn't come in at half-time in any game and say same again until the Guiseley game. Before that it was always reactive.

“We had a gameplan to start with but when that goes out the window we had to react.

“Now we are able to settle. It is nice not to think about what we are going to have to do when we are a goal behind.

“The worst case scenario when you cut out the errors is a clean sheet and a point.

“At the end of the day every point is going to be crucial at the end of the season. A point could be the difference between success and failure.”

Harrison, who decided to take on the challenge during the summer after successful times in charge of TNS in Wales, was braced for difficult periods, but he admits the change in fortunes makes the experience nicer.

He said: “I am still enjoying it as much as I did three weeks ago - the only change has been the results on the pitch. We are not giving poor goals away now.

“If you give goals away it gives the opposition the chance to control the games.

“I am a big statistician. 80 per cent of the time when a team scores first they don't get beat. It is a physiological thing.

“Subconsciously you make decisions you didn't want to have to make when you are behind, that happens on and off the pitch.

“All it takes is one person to be out of position and the whole team look disjointed. It is a game of fine margins - it always has been in top level sport.

“Those fine margins have been in our favour lately, it was the other way at the start of the season.”