MICK Wadsworth insists Hartlepool’s six-game winless streak does not mean they have given up hope of relaunching a play-off push.
A run of four successive league wins had put Pool in contention for the play-offs at the turn of the year, but a miserable return of just two points from their last six games has seen them slip to 14th, nine points shy of the play-off spots.
Wadsworth’s men last tasted victory on New Year’s Day when they beat Oldham 4-2 – but the Latics avenged that defeat this week by winning 4-0 at Boundary Park.
And Pool are looking to get back on course as they entertain Colchester United at the Victoria Ground this afternoon.
Wadsworth said: “Until you’re out of it, you’ve got to have hope.
“I still feel that if we can get ourselves together, in this division anything can happen, it’s so tight.
“We’ve had a poor run right on the back of a good run and I think we went from being one of the best teams in the division to being the poorest which is difficult to fathom but we’re working through it.
“The players have been very honest and very responsive this week and hopefully now we’re ready to change our fortunes and climb back up the league.”
Colchester are ninth in League One, four points ahead of Pool, but are still smarting after losing in controversial circumstances to Charlton in midweek.
The Us felt they had a perfectly good opening goal from Steven Gillespie disallowed midway through the second half.
Amid much confusion, referee Darren Sheldrake first said ‘no’ then consulted his linesman and changed his mind to ‘yes’ before listening to the Charlton protests and settling on ‘no’ once more.
To add insult to injury, Bradley Wright-Phillips later scored the only goal of the game for the Addicks.
“They’ve had a tough programme recently and I’m sure they’ll feel hard done by given the goal they had chalked off on Tuesday which looked legitimate to me,” said Wadsworth.
“They’ll be desperate for the win but we’re pretty confident and we know what we need to do this weekend.
“There are no given games, though, we won’t beat anybody easily.
“We have to earn every point, and that will be the case throughout the season.
“But if we can get that work ethic and our solidity back, anything can happen, but first let’s get to safety.”
