HARTLEPOOL United boss Neale Cooper has warned his side not to let Saturday's historic away win go to waste.

Pool thumped Wrexham 5-1 at the Racecourse Ground, their second highest away win in history.

It also put to bed a stretch of eight successive League defeats on the road.

But with Oldham next up - at Victoria Park on Sunday - Cooper insists it is imperative to maintain their magnificent home form.

Pool have dropped only four points from a possible 33 in front of their own fans.

Oldham have already beaten Pool twice at Boundary Park this season, in both League One and in the LDV Vans Trophy.

Cooper said: "We've a busy little period coming up and we go into it in good spirits because of the win at Wrexham.

"It's a big weight off our shoulders winning away from home. The important thing is to make sure our home form doesn't slip up now. We have been superb at home and we have to make sure it continues.''

Cooper is glad to have defender Micky Nelson back in his side.

The defender has been left out of the squad recently, after being in dispute with the club over a new contract.

But, after Ben Clark failed to recover from a bout of tonsilitis and an ankle injury at the weekend, Nelson resumed his partnership with Chris Westwood in defence.

"We were immense at the back when we had to be,'' said Cooper.

"Nelse came back in. He trained all week and did well. He wanted to be back in last Monday for training and said he would get his head right to be involved.

"He gave nothing away and he is a player we don't want to lose.''

Pool travel to Bristol City a week today and a play-off place is a real possibility again - Pool have more points at this stage of the season than they did last, when they made the end of season shake-up.

Adam Boyd marked signing his new contract with another impressive display at the weekend and the club's leading scorer admits his side enter Christmas in good spirits.

He said: "I think a few of our first-half performances away from home have merited us winning, but it just hadn't happened until Wrexham.

"That was especially the case at Walsall the other week. We had a few chances but only went in 1-0 and were made to pay. Thankfully, we got a few more this time and it has gone our way.

"It was a clinical performance, we had something like seven or eight chances and put five of them away, which isn't a bad thing.''

Pool are in seventh spot, just one point outside the play-off zone and Boyd added: "We have ended this run of away defeats and are in a good position in the league.

"Our next away game is Bristol City, but after winning 5-1 away we can go there full of confidence.

"We all know what happened there last year in the play-offs. That was a massive disappointment, but it's gone now.

"If we had one or two more away wins we could be up in third or fourth.''

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