JAKE GRAY believes fortune is finally starting to shine on Hartlepool United.

A miserable season is picking up, and Saturday’s win over Dagenham not only put seven points between Pools and the bottom two, but brought a first goal in five for Gray.

The midfielder, on loan from Crystal Palace, netted his sixth of the season and his first in five.

"The luck has changed a little, the penalty and things like that, Hawksy putting in two worldys, maybe they would not have gone in a month ago,’’ he reflected.

"We've started to believe in ourselves more, a lot of confidence has come.

"The new manager wants to pass more, build more attacks, today we weren't really great at keeping the ball. He was quite disappointed with that, but it's something we can improve upon.

"They made it a battle so it was difficult but we came out on top.

"We now play a lot more possession training and hopefully you can see that in games, may be not today.

"It's something we are tying to work on.’’

Gray, a regular scorer for Palace’s Under-21 side before his move to Victoria Park, is a regular goal threat for Pools.

But he admitted he’s been getting some stick from his dad for not netting enough.

"The new manager has come in and given us a lot of confidence,’’ he added.

"Everyone is expressing themselves and we have more belief in the final third.

"We're creating more chances.

"My dad has been saying I need to get a few more goals, but you can't put too much pressure on yourself.

"I think it was four games and had I not scored again I might have said 'I really need to get a goal'. I’ll be straight on the phone to him after scoring….

"But you can't force a goal, you have to try to let it happen naturally.

"It's a massive bonus, it takes the pressure off Billy - he's our talisman.

"It's good we are getting forward and getting into goal-scoring positions.’’