FOUR points from two games and Hartlepool United are out of the drop zone. Things are going well for caretaker boss Paul Stephenson.

Since the club's youth team coach took temporary control of the team, there have been enough signs to suggest that the fight to avoid the drop will be won.

Friday's victory over Chesterfield at Victoria Park - Pool's first win since beating Bournemouth on December 10, 2005 - was one the most entertaining home display of the season.

Pool go to Tranmere tomorrow night looking to keep the momentum going.

The game is Pool's last until February 25, when Doncaster visit Victoria Park and that, coupled with the four point return, means the club's owners are in no great rush to make an appointment.

Stephenson said: "I'm enjoying this, I've got to be. There's not much time to prepare for the next game and like I've already said this is a good adventure for me.

"The chairman has asked me to do a job at the moment and I am doing it until told otherwise It's nice to be asked and I am enjoying it.''

Former boss Chris Turner continues to be heavily linked with the job, but a club statement released before the Chesterfield victory, declared that no-one had been approached.

Applications have been received, but they had not been reviewed.

It read: "The club's owners, still very disappointed at the Council's refusal to sell the ground, are reviewing all options at this critical time in the club's history and will take as long as is necessary to ensure decisions are made in what they believe will be in the best interests for the short and long term future of the club.''

Phil Brown, recently relieved of his managerial duties at Derby County, is another who could be under consideration for the vacant post.

The one-time Pool defender was a spectator at Victoria Park on Friday night.

Stephenson has brought a fresh outlook to the club and it was his substitution which paved the way to Friday's win.

Matty Robson was introduced as a second-half substitute and he soon netted the winning goal.

"Well, you do need a bit of luck with substitutions when you make them!

"I was going to put Matty on at half-time, but I thought I would give it ten minutes or so. I wanted him to inject a bit of pace out wide and drive them back.

"I was delighted for Matty, but more important it won the game and we kept a clean sheet.

"The fans were fantastic, they really got behind us and what a difference it made - it really lifted the players when there was some tired bodies towards the end.

"Chesterfield had been on a hell of a run. When I played here we went on a run of 19 or 20 games without defeat and the confidence you get from it is something else.

"I told the lads that the run was going to end sometime, so we wanted to make sure it was Friday.

"The key for me was that the fans kept backing the players, it makes such a difference.

"I said to the lads that the fans would be there for them, but they had to keep giving them something to cheer and it worked like that.''

It was Pool's second successive clean sheet, the first at Rotherham when Stephenson took his caretaker-managerial bow.

Previously they conceded three to Blackpool in what proved Martin Scott's last game in control.

Ben Clark and Micky Nelson were outstanding in the middle of the back four and Stephenson said: "

"The lads at the back were very good - Nelson and Clark were solid and it was as good as I have seen Darren Williams play for this club.

"He concentrated really well, he was focused and he stayed on his feet. I was a wide player myself and the best full backs I played against stayed on their feet and delayed and delayed their tackle until it was right.

"The two full backs did that on Friday and they were hard to beat. They were patient and made Chesterfield work to try and beat them, it was hard for them.''

Adam Boyd played the full game, his first full outing since suffering knee ligament damage back in September and only the second time he had completed 90 minutes this season.

The striker was shattered in the closing stages as he tired and Stephenson: "I think we needed a forklift truck to get him out of the dressing room and take him home! But that 90 minute performance will have done him the world of good.

"I kept him out at Rotherham because he just wasn't quite ready, but he's been training for three weeks now and he put some work in the other night.''

Boyd played as part of a three-man frontline with David Foley and Chris Llewellyn and Stephenson added: "The lads will tell you that Foley has been on fire all week and the lads will tell you what he's been like in training.

"I just felt the other night he worked so hard, probably too hard, to try and impress.

"Young lads do that in front of a big crowd and there was a couple of times when he got the ball and I know he could do the magic and get away.

"Once he learns to relax, we will see what he can do. Stephen Turnbull was very good as well and there are some good young players coming through.''

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