NEALE Cooper has hit back at suggestions Hartlepool will wilt under the pressure at Victoria Park this afternoon.

Walsall boss Paul Merson reckons Pool will be 'nervous' ahead of today's game and not looking forward to playing his in-form side.

The Saddlers arrive in the North-East on the back of a resounding 3-0 home win over Championship-bound Hull City, with on-loan Leeds United striker Julian Joachim bagging a hat-trick.

Buoyed by three consecutive victories, a bullish Merson reckons a month ago Pool would have looked at the fixture against his League One strugglers as a home banker. Cooper, however, believes nothing in football is as simple as that.

"We wouldn't look at any fixture this season, or last season, as a home banker," said the Hartlepool boss.

"It is how you go about it on the day. We went down there earlier in the season when we weren't doing very well away from home. We battered them in the first-half but we never took our chances and they punished us in the second-half (to lose 2-1). So we're looking for revenge.

"I know he (Merson) has come out and said there is pressure but I'm sure they would love to be where we are.

"These are all quite big clubs who are having their say but that is fine, they can say what they like. You've got to be able to handle a bit of pressure and that is what the players have to do.

"We have to be physically and mentally strong. I said last weekend a lot of the boys were under the weather but the club seems a lot stronger this week and the players are looking better.

"People are saying we'll be nervous before the game. I'm nervous before every game but it gets the adrenaline going. You have to handle a bit pressure in life and these boys have to handle it playing football. I bet he (Merson) wishes the pressure was on him."

Cooper is aware the threat Merson's side poses to Pool's play-off chances but feels his charges are more than capable of handling players with the proven Premiership pedigree of Merson, Joachim and Mark Kinsella.

He said: "They have a lot of good players, Joachim is there now on loan and the full back from Coventry, (Craig) Pead. But a lot of teams have good players and there is not a big difference between a lot of the teams (in League One).

"It is the team who wants it the most who will win the game. Joachim is an obvious threat but Micky Nelson and ChrisWestwood are good defenders. It is a challenge for them and they have to deal with that and Paul Merson has done well when he has played."

The Pool boss insisted a win in this afternoon's League One clash is vital ahead of the next week's trip to play-off rivals Bournemouth.

He said: "It is vital we win because the other teams challenging for the play-offs could get beat. It would be nice to win going down to Bournemouth."

With only two games to go before the season ends you could forgive Cooper and his staff for checking each and every permutation between all those sides involved in the play-off scramble. The Pool boss, however, has been more concerned with how his side have performed than worrying about anyone else.

He said: "Okay, you sometimes have to rely on other teams but I have just been concentrating on Hartlepool United. We know what we have to do; win our last two games and we will be in that play-off position. What the others do is their concern."

Hartlepool fans may feel their side has put them through the mill this season, especially in the last month or so. But the club has come a long way in its last three seasons and to be on the threshold of the Championship is a remarkable feat.

"What the team has achieved to reach the play-offs last season was a major achievement," said Cooper. And to be in our position with two games to go is still a major achievement.

"We know it has been a mixed season but we're still up there. Most people thought we would struggle this year but I have to be positive here and not negative."

* Chester have appointed former Mansfield boss and England international Keith Curle as their new manager.

The 41-year-old has signed a one-year deal and replaces Ian Rush, who resigned at the start of the month.

Curle, who has been out of work since he was sacked by the Stags in November last year, got the nod ahead of around 40 other candidates, including former Chelsea manager John Hollins.

The manager will be unveiled before City's final home game of the season against Northampton today and will formally take charge from Monday, with just a trip to Oxford remaining before the summer.

Chairman Stephen Vaughan was immediately impressed by the former centre-back at the interview stage and said: ''I never had any doubts as to who my choice would be from the minute I met Keith."

Chester, who were promoted as Conference champions last season, are currently 20th in League Two.

l Cambridge have filed for administration due to their spiralling debts. The Us were relegated from the League following last week's goalless draw with Rochdale, and finance director Nick Pomery said: ''The club has liabilities of around £900,000 and assets which are in no way sufficient to meet these debts.

''Relegation means it is not feasible that these liabilities can be paid off by trading profitably over the forthcoming season."

Read more about Hartlepool here.