ANTONY Sweeney admits he and his players always knew the unbeaten home record had to come to an end but has rallied his Hartlepool United players to bounce back.

Pools 13 match unbeaten streak, from last season in the National League, came to an abrupt end last night at the hands of Newport County as they lost by two goals to one at the Suit Direct Stadium. Dom Telford scored the winner in the 90th minute.

The nature of conceding in stoppage time will have provided a kick in the teeth for Sweeney and his men who still sit 10th in the table with other League Two fixtures to be played this afternoon.

The interim boss admits it shows that the players can’t now rely on their home form to get them through the season and avoid relegation.

Sweeney said: “Disappointing was the overriding feeling. A little bit of anger as well especially in the manner that we lost the game.

“I think you’ve got to be careful that you don’t go overboard as well. Yes it’s a kick in the teeth, yes we’ve lost an unbeaten home record that we didn’t want to lose, yes it’s against a team that’s in and around us in the table.

“But I think we’re realistic enough to know that the home record wasn’t going to carry on forever. We’d have liked it to carry on for a lot longer than it did but it’s about how we bounce back now.

“I said to the players there people were suggesting, because of the away form, that once we started losing at home, this was going to be a problem. Well there’s the gauntlet laid down to the players.

“We’ve got some tough away games, whether it be in cup competitions or whether it be in league competitions, that gauntlet is down to the players now that we’ve got 30 games to go and there’s X amount of points that we need to survive in this league so the quicker we get them the better.

“These losses, although are really hard to take, we’re all gutted, we’re all disappointed and we’re all angry, if you learn from them, they sometimes give you the bitter pill that you have to take to move forward.

“I’ve just said to the players if we won one, whether it be away from home, at home in a game where a goal goes in injury time, just think of the feeling that you’ve got now and you don’t want to feel that again.

“Whether you get to the ball slightly quicker, whether your clearances are slightly longer, whether you get slightly closer to your man, just make sure that you recognise and you learn from this experience because no one wants to sit here having been in the game, potentially could win the game, was going to accept a point but then ultimately come away with nothing.”

It’s back to the cup competition on Tuesday night where they’ll face League One side Wycombe Wanderers in a replay for a place in the second round of the competition.