Hugill: Four cup finals for Pools

Pools, after losing to York on Saturday, meet Accrington Stanley at Victoria Park this evening in a game in which nothing less than a win will do.

Ronnie Moore’s side remain outside the relegation spots in League Two, a point ahead of second-bottom Tranmere.

And Hugill, on loan from Preston, declared: "We have four cup finals now - the games are massive.

"It has probably come down to three teams now, we cannot keep getting lucky.

"We have worked hard to get out of the bottom two and then struggled since then a bit.

"If the other teams below us start winning then we will soon be back in the bottom two.

"All we can do is concentrate on our own jobs, keep working hard and hopefully pick up some results in the coming matches.’’

Hugill impressed in his first two games for Pools, scoring at Newport on Good Friday in a 2-2 draw.

But he suffered an eye injury seconds into the game with Southend on Easter Monday, and only returned to the training ground the day before Saturday’s trip to York.

The decision to play was all down to the striker, and it was a game he wasn’t going to miss.

"To be honest I was just pleased to be playing after what has been a week from hell after going off against Southend,’’ he admitted.

"I haven't been able to train all week and had to go and see the specialist on Friday.

"I went to the eye infirmary and they said 'look you can play but it will be at your own risk'.

"With the fans that were coming down I wanted to play and there was no doubt in my mind I was going to be here.

"The fans are going to be massively important for us in the next four games.

"We had fantastic support at York - more than 2,000 coming down is incredible really.

"We can only thank them for coming down after getting beat.

"I'm sure they will be out in force again for Tuesday's match and the support at home has been amazing these past few weeks.’’

Pools have again pegged ticket prices back to £10 standing and £12 seats for this evening, hoping for another 5,000-plus attendance.

The atmosphere inside Victoria Park of late has been much-improved as supporters back their team to escape.

And Hugill admitted the players felt for their immense travelling support on Saturday.

“We were all disappointed,’’ he mused. "The 2,000 fans will have gone home and had a bad night. It was a tough day and a disappointing one, we have to put it down to a hard day at the office.

"They were really tough to break down and getting people behind the ball.

"The red card probably helped them a bit because you get ten-men behind the ball and defend like they did.

"They did that really well, made it hard for us and we couldn't break them down.

"We had a lot of half chances and I had a few half decent chances, which I should have done better with.

"On another day, they might have gone in.’’

Scott Fenwick made his return to action on Saturday, appearing as a late substitute after six weeks out with ankle injury.

He had four goals in six games before being sidelined and Hugill admitted: "It is great to see Scott back out there on the pitch.

"He has been chomping at the bit to be back involved since his injury and it is a big boost for us.

"I hadn't trained ahead of York so haven't really trained with him.

"But it is good to see him back out there and I am looking forward to playing with him."

Saturday’s game at Luton is all-ticket. An initial allocation of 260 tickets are on sale at Victoria Park, until 2pm on Thursday.

Prices: Adults - £20; Over-65s - £15; Over-75 - £12; Under-22 - £15; Under 17s - £8; Under 10s - £5.

Tickets for the final game of the season at Carlisle are now on general sale.