Final Score: Hartlepool United 0 Tranmere Rovers 2

ANOTHER game passed Hartlepool United by last night; how much longer can they go before a new manager is appointed to halt the rot.

Defeat to Tranmere at Victoria Park was Pools’ 15th game without a win. Victory put Rovers back on top on League One and, for an hour at least, there was little between the teams.

Now, with a number of potential managers watching from the stand last night as Pools complete their recruitment process, all eyes are on who will be in charge for Saturday’s trip to Yeovil. With the players setting off on Friday morning for Yeovil, chances are it will by Micky Barron.

Betting with the bookmakers was suspended last night, and Brown, Craig Short and Colin Cooper were all looking on last night.

And, while the likes of Rudi Voller and Sven-Goran Eriksson may not have fancied a November night in Hartlepool last night, they both did express a genuine interest.

They were both fanciful names. Winning a game is proving equally whimsical right now.

This was their 15th without victory, and they lie an unhealthy eight points shy of the safety line in League One after a run of results on Tuesday night that they couldn’t have believed.

Rovers went back on top after this win, but there wasn’t – for an hour at least – much in it.

Confidence is in short supply right now within the Pools ranks and, after a decent 60 minutes in which they restored some much-needed pride following Saturday’s FA Cup disaster at Chesterfield.

“It was frustration for us,’’ admitted Barron. “We passed the ball well at times without having that killer edge to score. Second-half we didn’t get on the ball good enough and the momentum swung in their favour.

“It’s tough, we did play well first half and everyone could see that and appreciate it. It was working alright, but another individual mistake costs us when they get a penalty.

“It’s the way it is for us, people making errors at bad times for us. It’s easy to say we played well but didn’t win.’’ That mistake came when Peter Hartley made a play for the ball in the area, but only tripped James Wallace and Andy Robinson scored from the spot.

Chasing the game and Pools were caught out on the break in injury time when Cole Stockton swept in from the edge of the area.

Barron wanted his players to be brave and felt the crowd wouldn’t offer them any leeway.

To their credit, the players went some way to winning back their support.

“The reaction from Saturday was positive and the players showed character. They showed they do care and are fighting for the shirt and the club.

“One win is needed to lift us, but at times it seems a long way off. Where does it come from?

“Until we stop giving away two or three goals away a game it’s going to be really tough.’’ Rovers could have been two-up inside six minutes, but Hartley cleared off the line and then Jake Cassidy clipped wide.

Pools did get the ball down and move it around well. Simon Walton and Jon Franks were both much-improved in the first half.

Franks had a chance to put Pools ahead after only 14 seconds of the second half, but, in on goal, he clipped his finish too close to keeper Owain Fon Williams who saved.

Scott Flinders then had to make three decent stops to keep his side in the game as Rovers turned the pressure on, while firing numerous balls across the face of goal.

But they showed how things go in your favour when you are winning games and full of belief.

While Pools scratch around for something positive to take, Rovers are flying.

He said: “Hartlepool have lost 6-1 on Saturday, they are bottom and its about convincing the players you don’t just turn up to win.

“We were wary of them – Micky got them going and they had a go.

“During the second-half we ground them down. It’s freezing cold, windy, raining and do we have the spirit to grind this one out? That’s what I asked them before the game.’’

MATCHFACTS

Goals: Robinson pen (79, 0-1); Stockton (90, 0-2)

Bookings: Robinson (9, diving), Richards (47, foul), Gibson (62, foul)

Referee: Gary Sutton (Lincoln)

Attendance: 3,285

Entertainment: 3/5

HARTLEPOOL UNITED (4-4-2): FLINDERS 7; Richards 6, Collins 5, Hartley 5, Austin 7; Sweeney 7, Murray 6 (Luscombe 81), Walton 6; Poole 7 (Noble 66, 5), Howard 6, Franks 7. Subs: McHugh (gk), Horwood, Baldwin, Holden, Wyke.

TRANMERE ROVERS (4-4-2): Fon Williams 6; Holmes 6, Gibson 7, Taylor 7, Bakayogo 5; Robinson 8, Wallace 7, Bakayogo 6, Bell-Baggie 5 (McGurk 36, 6); Jervis 5 (Stockton 74), Cassidy 6. Subs (not used): Goodison, Thompson, Harrison, Kay, Mooney.

MAN OF THE MATCH ANDY Robinson – always a threat going forward on the flank