LAST weekend Mick Wadsworth resisted the temptation to change his Hartlepool United side and later wished he had.

Today he won't make the same judgment and, after Sunday's disappointment at Notts County changes are afoot for today's game with Wycombe Wanderers at Victoria Park.

Nobby Solano is injured, James Poole, Evan Horwood, Stephen Wright and Andy Monkhouse are four players pressing for a place. Wadsworth could also change formation as easily as he could alter his team.

Poole scored four times for the reserves on Monday and, with Pools strikers not finding the target of late, is set for a second start of the season.

"James played well and scored four,'' said Wadsworth. "Many of them in the reserves played well and they know, and it's been tough for some players on the fringes or who have fallen behind because of injury, they have enjoyed the act the team has done well but in a poor performance it's up to them to show what they can do.

"We have many options, a great squad in relative terms to what we have had in the past and I don't mean that in a derogatory terms.

"We didn't have depth, we do now.

"Last year we had a reaction after poor performances - one spell apart in January which was disappointing in losing a few on the bounce - but by and large we had a positive reaction.''

After describing last weekend as a "rogue performance", Wadsworth insisted Pools have moved on and is expecting a positive reaction this afternoon.

"We came in Monday, exorcised the ghost of it and got back to work to putting it right on Saturday,'' he said.

"That's the way you have to do it, you can't dwell on it. The more you stir it up, the more problems it gives you, so we move on.

"I think every week you examine the situation and have a feeling how it's going. Sometimes you have a feeling over how it's going, you have a feeling or an instinct.

"But we do what we need to do and give it a lot of thought, but most of it we have to keep as it has done well so far.

"We look at everything, all the time, we do what we feel is right for that game. If you do well you still examine it and review the situation.''

Pools did respond to the poor defeats of last season with a positive display in the next game and Wadsworth expects the strong characters in the dressing room to ensure the same happens again this afternoon.

"I think one of the main things is to talk about it and look at what has made us stronger in the past and to re-emphasise it,'' he said.

"We really have a discussion - or a lecture if you like, and it can be both - of what was right, what was wrong and then it's gone.

"You get rid of it, exorcise the ghost and forget about it as it doesn't do us any good to think about it.

"We think about the positive things and what we have done well this season in simplistic terms.

"There's a determination, there always is and we have some really good people. In adversity good people do well.

"We all had an awful day Sunday, but that's football and sometimes it happens. Even Barcelona lost a game last week and if they can lose then I'm sure Hartlepool can.

"The other thing is I have to give great credit to Notts County on the day. We may have played at our best and still lost.''

Wadsworth missed out on the manager of the month award to Martin Allen last week and was beaten by him days later on the Meadow Lane pitch.

Allen's side lifted above Pools - who sit ninth this morning - in the League One rankings and Wadsworth was quick to salute the efforts of his opposite number.

"I have a lot of time for Martin Allen,'' he said. "He is an eccentric guy and he says that was the best they have played all season and they were terrific and kicked our backsides in every department.

"Sometimes it's right to accept defeat and I believe firmly in sportsmanship.

"I didn't make any excuses at all - we had a poor day, but know how good we can be.''