ANTONY Sweeney insists he is happy to remain in charge of Hartlepool United for as long as is necessary.

The caretaker manager was asked two weeks ago today to stand in after the sacking of Craig Hignett.

He’s won back to back games in temporary charge and is preparing for Saturday’s game at home to Barnet.

The club’s hierarchy is working on the process of recruiting a permanent boss and Sweeney admitted: “There’s no indication of what is happening. It’s for the board to resolve, not my concern. When I was approached to take caretaker charge I was asked to do it until told otherwise – I am comfortable with that with or without a timeframe.

“If results tail off then it puts the squeeze on it a bit more, but moving on with wins it fives the club more time. I want to give the club the right amount of time to get the right person for the job.’’

A Pools team won at Shildon in the Durham Challenge Cup on Wednesday evening, with a handful of first-team squad members playing.

Luke Williams appeared as a second-half substitute, but Sweeney admitted this morning that the midfielder is still away from a first-team call-up.

Sweeney is being assisted by Ian McGuckin and admitted: “It’s going to get a bit more hectic as we have under-19s games to come with only two members of coaching staff!

“We carry on and the players have been excellent – I don’t see any difference in training from the last four weeks. It’s been good, intense

“We can improve massively on the last two performances, but I don’t want to be too negative with two wins under our belts.

“We put Brackley to one side quickly, FA Cup games are different and we won’t see Brackley again this season. I don’t read too much into Barnet against Potters Bar, more so their National League games.

“The players know what it takes to win games more securely than last weekend.’’