Crisis is eased, but Pools can't relax yet

Hartlepool's future as a League One club looks a lot more secure now than it did just over a week ago following their disastrous home defeat at the hands of Leyton Orient, but they still can't afford to relax. Instead, they need to match the form they showed in their two away games last week, when a qwin at Swindon and a draw at Colchester made the prospects look a lot brighter.

The players responded well to caretaker boss Chris Turner's criticism after the Orient game, when he described their performance as "absolute ruibbish".
They were fortunate to win at Swindon, where their last-minute penalty was controversial, to say the least.
But there was no luck about the draw at Colchester, where Turner felt they might have won. In fact, if they had been given a first-half penalty for a trip on Michael Mackay which looked more of a spot kick than the one at Swindon did, they might have made it six points in a week rather than just four.
Michael Nelson scored the goal at Colchester, where Richie Jones (left) made a welecome return after injury and on-loan Lewis Guy put in a good shift in attack.
With top scorer Joel Porter out injured, Pools are grateful for anything they can get up front, but Guy did enough to suggest he's better there than in midfield, and he has made it clear he prefers to play in attack.
Pools are now seven points clear of fourth bottom Orient, but every one of the teams below thjem in the League One table has at least one game in hand so it's not time to relax yet.
Perhaos that was the mistake they made against Orient - perhaps they thought all they had to do was put their kit on to get the points. If that game serves to remind them that this isn't the case, it will have done some good in the long run.
They certainly can't afford to inflict another performance like that on the fans. Many of them who saw the Orient game will perhaps have forgiven the team after last week's four points, but a repeat of the Orient performance will bring those bad memories flooding back and they won't forgive and forget a second time.
As we wind down a season which has been frustrating fror players and fans alike, home games this week against Tranmere (Tuesday) and Peterborough (Saturday) provide the team with a chance to make amends.