ONE defeat in 11 and Hartlepool United are starting to make a mark on the National League.

Such is the tight nature of the division, however, and they still only remain in mid-table ahead of this evening’s home game with Tranmere Rovers.

Saturday’s late equaliser from Sutton denied them victory – and left them in 14th in the table when they would have been eighth if they had been able to see the game out.

But no-one at Victoria Park is dwelling on the two lost points.

And goalkeeper Scott Loach declared: "They (Tranmere) won't want to come to us.

"They'll look at us and think 'Hartlepool are in good form', they'll know we are now hard to beat.

"It will be a different kind of game I'm guessing they'll play a lot more football, no disrespect to Sutton they were very good at what they did, but we have to be mentally prepared now and think 'we've not lost, let's take it to them'.

"That's what you have to do in football.

"We are going to lose a game at some point, that's a fact, it happens at every level, but like we did against Eastleigh, we'll dust ourselves down and come back.

"We'll show character, we'll quickly park this one and we’ll be back at it again."

Tonight’s opponents were beaten at on Saturday and are one place and three points behind Pools. They have scored 12 and conceded 12 this season and are expected to be challenging for promotion – just like Pools.

"I don't want to sound deflated, it's games games like that can win you leagues,’’ reflected Loach.

"We had games against Barrow and Dagenham where we took games we maybe didn't deserve to, so perhaps things even themselves out?

"It's still a point picked up and we're still on that run of ours.

"We now need to go and get a win against Tranmere to keep us in and around it.

"No-one is promoted in October, but we're in a good place at the minute, we know we can do better but I think that's exciting because you don't want to be at your best now, there's room for improvement, we have some good young plyers as well as our experienced lads.

"The likes of Devante (Rodney) is stepping up to the plate and Connor Simpson is starting to become more physical.

"Moving forward they are going to be more of a threat and we've got Jake Cassidy coming back who has that added experience."

The goalkeeper, who has proved to be a fine signing this summer after he left Notts County, added: "Whether we are in the play-offs now is not relevant, it's where we are in May that counts, in my opinion.

"What we need to do now is keep learning, we lost against Eastleigh but we dusted ourselves down and went again.

"At the start of the season we were getting bullied but the lads have stepped up and we're all fighting for each other and we have a great team spirit.

"Everyone wants to win together and that's the difference."

Pools should have midfielder Nicky Featherstone available tonight. He was absent on Saturday, with no-one able to offer an explanation why he wasn’t playing.

Reflecting on the weekend, Loach added: "In the grand scheme of things it was probably a fair result.

"If they scored their equaliser in the 60th or 70th minute then everyone probably goes away happy with a point.

"But when it happens that late you almost take it like a loss.

"Sutton are up there for a reason, they are a physical who have experience in this league.

"We dealt with them pretty well and kept ourselves in the game, unfortunately we just couldn't quite cross the line, but we'll go again Tuesday.

"But I think it's another good sign how our character has come on as a team because I think there were games previously to the run we're on when teams like that would roll us over.

"I don't think that is happening anymore."