CRAIG HIGNETT is demanding his Hartlepool United players show what they are made of tonight.

Pools go to Halifax on the back of a disappointing first day home defeat to Sutton.

He said: “Win on Tuesday, good teams don’t lose two games in a row. Get this out the way and then it’s win one lose one, the way we lost on Saturday was the most disappointing.’’

Pools started slow and were two down after 23 minutes. Tonight’s opponents won 4-1 at Ebbsfleet, albeit against opposition who had a man sent off early and which included a free-kick from inside his own half by defender Nathan Clarke.

Hignett added: “We set the tone on Saturday in how slowly we passed the ball, it was lethargic and it showed in how we conceded – slow motion in not doing jobs properly. Really disappointing.

“Words were said at half-time, changed it and looked the better side if a bit naïve at the end. We created enough to get level certainly.

“It’s OK creating chances and we will do that, but we have to put them away.

“We showed enough second half to show we can be a threat. The lads will look forward to Tuesday and put this right.’’

Nicky Featherstone is set to start this evening in midfield alongside Gus Mafuta with Liam Noble and Jason Kennedy’s places under theat.

Noble admits no-one can have any complaints about being left out tonight.

He said: “We worked hard in pre-season and the game plan went in 20 minutes. Fair play to Sutton for doing a job on us. We got back into it and were miles better, more like us.

“We can’t give anyone a head start. We needed to put it right, it comes from us.

“We did completely the opposite to what the gaffer said. We have to bounce back quick. It’s hard to know why we did it – it’s hard for the gaffer to pick a team and now he will make changes on Tuesday.

“Maybe it was a wake-up call for us. We set out to win every game, this was frustrating.

“We’ve two away games now and we need to come back home next Tuesday with six points in the bag.’’

Noble, last season’s top scorer added: “We had a lot of new lads in, but it’s no excuse. We have had six weeks in now and trained every day. We can’t have any excuse, we weren’t good enough from the off.

“Second-half was the real side and we had chances to level. We have enough players in midfield to make an impact going forward, and we missed a few through injury – they will be desperate to get back.

“No-one can knock on the gaffer’s door and complain if you don’t get picked on Tuesday.’’