MICKY BARRON'S attentions are already fixed on Division Two.

Hartlepool United's season might have ended just seven days ago, but skipper Barron - only the third captain to lead Pool to promotion - has his sights set on the fixture list.

Pool start next season in Division Two, which means rare visits to the likes of Wycombe, QPR, Bristol City and Barnsley when the programme is announced in July.

And Barron, who missed out on lifting the Division Three championship last Saturday after Pool failed to find the vistory they needed at Rushden admitted: "Now we start to look at Division Two and it's exciting times for us all at the club. Of course we all go on holiday and rest over the summer, but you always have one eye on the new season.

"You are always looking at other teams and seeing who we are going to be playing, wondering who the manager might bring in and how we are going to shape up.''

Pool's players are now on their end of season jaunt to Magaluf and Barron, who recently signed a new, two-year deal to stay at Victoria Park, added: "We've got Sheffield Wednesday to play which will be great for a number of reasons and the likes of QPR and Barnsley. It will be hard, but it's something we will relish. If we play like we can then we know what we are capable of doing, but we will have to play like that every week. There will be times when we hit a bad run because of the quality of teams in the division, but you won't find anyone here not looking forward to it.

"There'll be some new players coming in, no doubt about it. The manager hasn't brought anyone in yet, he's let the same squad carry on and more or less said that we are good enough to get out of the division and we proved him right.

"But we know that in a higher division we will need some better players to go with what we already have.''

Barron and his teammates could only look on as Paul Underwood lifted the title at Nene Park and after losing a 14-point advantage, he confessed: "It's been a great season, one we will remember for ever, but we didn't want anyone but us lifting the trophy.

"All we wanted at the start of the season was promotion - and we got that with a few games to spare which is a tremendous achievement. Winning the league would have been unbelievable, but we can still hold our heads up and shout about what we have done.

"When we came off the pitch at Rushden, we found out about the Exeter result. James Coppinger is there and a year ago he was with us. He would give everything to be in our position now, so no one should be down.''

Barron added: "Last Saturday was a real strange feeling. We had to stand and watch Rushden collect the championship when we all knew it should have been us.

"It was disappointing the way we started the game, but came back and we wanted to make sure we were still in the game with ten minutes left. That was exactly what we managed and Westy popped up with a goal for us, but it was too late. Probably five minutes earlier and we could have got another.

"I suppose it's fair play to Rushden because they did what they set out to do - stop us from winning.

"The referee was a bit slack with injury time, but it's difficult when you are trying to chase the game and we would probably have done the same. "

Meanwhile, Jermaine Easter has signed a new two-year deal at Victoria Park and Jon Bass has also been offered new terms. Both players have struggled to break into the first team this year.

* Ex-Pool trialist Joe Kendrick is likely to move to Germany and sign a three-year deal with 1860 Munich. The left back impressed while on trial towards the end of the season, scoring once in two reserve outings, after being freed by Newcastle.

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