HARTLEPOOL boss Mick Wadsworth has challenged his team to start up another unbeaten run ahead of tomorrow’s League One clash at Notts County.
Wadsworth’s men travel to Meadow Lane – where they will be beamed across the nation with the fixture being shown live by Sky – having seen their unbeaten start to the season come to an end last weekend. A big crowd turned up a Victoria Park hoping to see their heroes notch up another scalp, but visitors Sheffield Wednesday spoiled the party by bagging a 1-0 win.
However, Wadsworth is urging his side to get back up on their feet and set about going on another long run to keep them in the promotion race.
He said: “It would be nice if we could go ten games every time and just lose the one. That would be an incredible feat to achieve, but we have to aim for something like that and get another unbeaten run going as soon as possible.
“We’re in better shape to have a crack at promotion than we were a year ago, we’ve got a little bit more depth.
“We’ve had injuries this year and we’ve dealt with them rather well with people coming into the squad and that has been a better marker.
“If we can go into the new year in the top third of the table we’ll be in good shape to have a good go for the final third of the season.”
One thing Wadsworth will want to do is to banish last season’s horrific memory of their last visit to Robin Hood country as they suffered a mauling at the hands of tomorrow’s hosts. He added: “We had a really poor experience at Notts County last year, we were on a really fantastic run, but had our backsides kicked and lost 3-0. That started a poor January, we’d put ourselves in a good position then and we need to guard against that this year.
“We’ve got to be far more determined to get back to winning ways this year, to get three points if at all possible and maintain the good start that we’ve had.
“I’m sure they (Notts County) won’t be happy with their last away result but they have enjoyed some great victories and they will be confident too so it should be a good game.
“But this is the next challenge to see how good we are, how far we’ve come and if we can maintain this current level of performance.”
