Hell For Hignett And For Managerless Hartlepool

Winning 1-0 at home to Dagenham heading into the 90th minute, Director of Football Craig Hignett though he had the perfect first day in charge.

But the sting in the tail was venomous.

The in-form Daggers scored twice in time added on to totally deflate a club who were picking up the pieces after manager Matthew Bates departed on Wednesday.

Hignett said his team should have been out of sight before Dagenham’s final flourish.

“For 88 minutes I thought we were fantastic,” the interim manager told the club’s website.

“It was everything the fans want to see and everything we want to see. We had chances, we hit the post, we had penalty shouts and I think the game should have been dead and buried.

“Unfortunately we haven’t carried that on for the 95 minutes we needed to and we’ve conceded a couple of sloppy goals – and that’s been the story of what’s been happening.

“We’ve had a chat but it’s hard to go in there and say I couldn’t have asked any more of them because I could have asked more from them – the last five minutes is the most important part of the game.

“If I am honest, I didn’t really see them scoring. I thought we looked solid though we did get a bit stretched in the last five or ten minutes when they went for it, but you expect that.

“We’ve come off very disappointed because we know that if you put in a performance like that you should be winning the game by three or four really.”