BLEAK journeys back up the M1 on a Saturday evening have become the norm for Hartlepool United.

Eight games, eight losses on the road is their record since October; while a run last season brought two draws and six defeats from eight and the previous campaign was just as dark with two draws from 12.

Defeat at Yeovil today would equal a nine-game losing stretch last racked up in 1985.

Pools will chalk up a gruelling near 11,000 miles on their travels this season.

With today’s game starting a run of three successive games away from Victoria Park, and with six left after this afternoon, the need to add some points to their away tally to ease the pressure is imperative.

At the start of the season Pools seemed to have cracked it with two wins and two draws on the road.

Since then, however, it’s been downhill all the way.

“We have tried doing everything different,’’ revealed boss Chris Turner. “There’s a lot of travelling involved. We have trained at different times on the way to games.

“Performances have been good, results unkind. Chances have been missed and I’m confident we can turn things around. There’s no fear or trepidation about going away.

“At the start of the season our away form was very good and we were very tight. Recently we have faced some good sides, we haven’t been horrendous in terms of performances, but we haven’t been clinical enough to get something – or what we have deserved.

“This season we have to do something like 11,000 miles on the road and I know it’s the players’ job to travel and prepare, but physiologically there’s a lot things to consider to make it that little bit harder.’’ Pools set off at 8am yesterday for their latest trek. The 335-mile haul saw them heading for the West Country on board the team bus, while Premier League and Championship clubs now have a quicker way to reach their destinations.

Middlesbrough’s players last weekend flew to Cardiff – around an hour in the air – and Turner admitted: “Look at Premier League and even Championship clubs who travel away, they fly to games now. We sit in the traffic on the bus, it’s the same for all teams in our division.

“I remember Plymouth and talking to Paul Sturrock about it. That used to be a very difficult place to go to for a result.

“It was the furthest trip for many. Now in the Championship most clubs fly there, so the slight advantage they may have had in terms of travel has gone.

“Travellin down the M5 on Friday afternoons to Plymouth and taking seven, eight hours is gone. They are flying it in an hour.

“It makes a difference and, excuses or not, you go as a fan, as a reporter, as a spectator, you know how tough it is to get to away games, sitting on a train, car or bus for hours.

“Then you don’t have to go out and perform at your best you just have to sit and watch.’’ Last week’s win over Southend eased the pressure on Pools in the lower half of League One, but their sixpoint advantage over the drop zone could be wiped out by the time their next three games are completed.

“Fatigue plays a big part and we are travelling as far as anyone this season. It doesn’t help,’’ added Turner.

“We try to do it properly and we are very fortunate that the company, IOR, provide the team with the right tools.

They look after the team with first-class travel and hotels.

“We leave and travel at times to beat the traffic to avoid getting stuck on a motorway on a Friday.

“We have trained at Leicester City on the way south a couple of times.

“It’s a halfway stop for us on some trips, but sometimes you stop there, train like we did a couple of weeks ago before the Millwall game, get back on the bus and get stuck in traffic on the M25 for two and a half hours.

“You try and combat it in the best possible way. Friday we set off at 8, straight down to Yeovil and train there.’’