Graeme Lee hails Hartlepool’s recovery at Colchester

Posted Wednesday, February 23, 2022 by PA

Hartlepool manager Graeme Lee was pleased to see his side recover to claim a 2-1 win at struggling Colchester.

Pools had trailed after Noah Chilvers had given the hosts a 22nd-minute lead, but Omar Bogle equalised in the 70th minute with a fine shot from the edge of the area.

And they grabbed a winner four minutes later through substitute Isaac Fletcher, who stabbed home from close range after Bogle had caused panic in the home defence.

It helped extend Pools’ unbeaten run to eight matches, much to the delight of boss Lee.

He said: “I’m absolutely delighted and I’m proud of their efforts. There was bad moments in the first half but also very good moments and good opportunities.

“I don’t know why he’s not given us a penalty because it’s clear-cut for me.

“It was a bit baffling and even their lads on the pitch said it was a penalty, having seen it again.

“You concede a goal and you think ‘here we go’ but they’ve done it again – they’ve come back and they’ve shown their willingness at half-time.

“We had a chat about what we wanted to improve on and they’ve gone out and done that. We dominated the game in the second half.

“They had opportunities and we knew what they wanted to do with big John Akinde, but I was delighted with the intent we showed in the second half and got a foothold in the game.”

Colchester remain three points above the relegation zone following the defeat.

Interim boss Wayne Brown said: “We conceded really poor goals. The changes that we made tonight we made to have a right go at them.

“They had possession of the ball and we knew that would be the case.

“But as I said to the lads in there, you need the belief because on another day we could have scored four goals tonight and we’re sitting here having a different conversation.

“We need to be better and we need to stand up and be counted.

“We have a tough game against Oldham here on Saturday and you either stand up to the challenge that lies ahead or if we concede a goal and go under like we did tonight, it will go one way.

“But that’s not going to be the case and we need to pick a team that’s going to go out in a war on Saturday, and that is what we will do.”