HARTLEPOOL boss Mick Wadsworth has urged his players to follow Leyton Orient’s example of how to bounce back from a poor run.
The Victoria Park side are in a bit of a rut at the moment having only won one game in their last six.
It’s a run which has seen them fall to 13th in the League One table – a far cry from the talk of promotion and play-off places which surrounded Pool after an impressive start to the season that left them unbeaten after the first nine games.
Last weekend Pool put in a dismal display in front of their own crowd, and a series of defensive howlers allowed league leaders Charlton to inflict a 4-0 thrashing. This afternoon, Wadsworth’s men travel to East London to face a resurgent Leyton Orient side whose fortunes this season have been the opposite of Hartlepool’s.
Where Hartlepool looked unstoppable earlier on this season, Leyton Orient looked as if they were plummeting to League Two as they looked like a side that could not buy a win for love nor money.
Hartlepool’s subsequent dip in fortunes has coincided with Leyton Orient reviving theirs, and Russell Slade’s men are currently seven games unbeaten. It’s a statistic that has not been lost on Wadsworth, and he says that the O’s example is one that is worth his own players following.
He said: “They (Leyton Orient) had a terrible start and found it so difficult to get a goal and find a result. They were quite good last season and one of the better teams at times. To be fair they have now managed to pick themselves up.
“That shows us that it can be turned around – we’ve had a negative turnaround in terms of results but theirs is a good example to us.
“We’ve got a good record away from home so far. We have to be very proud of that and try to maintain that level of performance on Saturday and beyond.”
Wadsworth has also thanked the Hartlepool supporters for their patience during the sticky spell that the team are going through. He added: “The fans have been fantastic. Even last Saturday they were generous in their support and their patience.
“You get the odd comment, and rightly so – I wouldn’t expect anything less.
“We’ve got to get back to where we were, what we were doing, back to basics.”
Leyton Orient boss Slade, meanwhile, is not taking Hartlepool for granted despite the form book.
He said: “Hartlepool are one of those teams, they’ve won four, drawn two and lost one, which is fantastic. It’s going to be very hard game because obviously they set their stall out away from home and make life difficult.”
