THIERRY HENRY got the better of Sol Campbell and Rio Ferdinand on Saturday!

No, England weren't playing France but that's how Hartlepool United's matchwinner Marcus Richardson built up the game.

Facing his old club, Richardson spent the week fending off malicious phone calls from his former teammates.

But he had the last laugh, netting a 78th minute winner in front of the fans in the Rink End who once cheered his name.

"I really enjoyed that one,'' he admitted. "It felt so good to score, especially after the week I've had, getting phone calls from them.

"I've had them telling me they are going to do this to me, or that to me, I'm not going to score, you're going to be coming off injured, everything, so it was great to do that to them.

"I had Lee Canoville and Rueben Hazell on the phone. The two centre backs were calling themselves Rio and Sol saying I would never get past them, so I told them that Thierry would get on the end of everything!

"To score in front of the supporters felt sweet. I was getting plenty of stick from them as well, so the goal was a reward. I gave the ball away and they went up the other end and scored and I thought 'oh no, here we go'. We just kept on going and it's down to the spirit and the never say die attitude we have here.''

Richardson's goal was his fifth since swopping the south coast for the North-East and added: "I don't know how I reached the cross for the winner. But we have to give credit to the supporters who cleared the pitch so we could play - this was a reward for their work.

"To win the game must have meant a lot to them all. We are in a great position - at one time Rushden must have thought they were going to get the chance to close the gap, but we won't give it up."

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