Hartlepool response delights Keith Curle after Crawley victory

Hartlepool boss Keith Curle was quick to admit he got the reaction he was seeking after his side recovered from the 5-0 trashing at home to Stockport by clinching a 2-0 victory at Crawley to climb out of the Sky Bet League Two relegation zone.

A second-half header from defender Rollin Menayese and an own goal from Travis Johnson gave Pools their first away league win for nearly nine months.

It ended a run of 14 away league games without a win and it delighted Curle, who declared: ”There is more to come.

“The first goal was vital for both teams and the longer you stay in games like this, good results can happen.

“The key word now is ‘unity’ – everyone needs to be a part of it.

“The players knew my feelings after the Stockport defeat and this was the reaction I wanted – there were great performances all over the pitch”

The Crawley game started a run of four games against sides currently in the bottom seven between now and New Year’s Day, and Curle is desperate to pick up points to avoid being cut adrift heading into a crucial transfer window.

He added:” We need more confidence into the squad and for me the most pleasing aspect was getting a clean sheet away from home.”

Matthew Etherington began his tenure as Crawley boss with a 2-0 home win over Swindon last Saturday but admitted his side’s latest performance was “awful and really poor.”

Etherington had urged his men to clinch back-to-back wins in order to start “looking up instead of down”.

He confessed: ”I’m under no illusions that that performance was really poor.

“It was a different kind of a game to the Swindon one and I didn’t recognise us. I apologise for this.”

Etherington went into the game with several players ruled out through illness and lost both defender Joel Lynch and striker Ashley Nadesan to injury after only 17 minutes.

But he felt that, even bearing in mind the difficulties, “we had enough in the changing room to win.”

He added: ”It was a really awful and poor performance. I apologise to the fans coming here and seeing that. We were poor and slow in possession and not brave enough either.”