DOWNCAST Neale Cooper admitted his Hartlepool United side were let down by their workrate as they slumped to their biggest home defeat in four years on Saturday.

QPR completed a double over Pool with a 4-1 win - the same result as the Division Two game at Loftus Road in December - and Cooper said: "The game was similar to the one at Loftus Road - they were too powerful for us at times. Our ball from back to front was rubbish. The strikers, I thought, worked hard for us.

"We could have been one-up, you would expect Eifion to score that chance. But they showed in the second-half what they could do and we are nowhere near that in terms of quality and strength.

"As a team we work hard, but one or two boys didn't do that on Saturday. We didn't get into the game from the start. We were dropping balls short and right onto their defenders which will never work. The quality of the passing wasn't there. Some players - and I've told them in the dressing room - must do better and can do better.

"I thought Gallen and Furlong were a different class. They are clever footballers and they played our defenders well at times.''

Pool meet Stockport at Victoria Park tomorrow night and Cooper said: "Mistakes cost us the goals, balls should have been dealt with better than they were.

"Maybe one or two boys were a little bit complacent after three wins in a row - who knows? But there was a good feeling before the game, a real confidence we could give them a tough game.''

Rangers' boss Ian Holloway admitted: "It's the best we have played for a while and it was all about confidence. We played some great football.

"They are a good side - what they have done over the last two years has been phenomenal. Neale Cooper and Martin Scott deserve a lot of credit for it. The club is moving up and moving in the right direction.''

l Anthony Williams, on loan at Stockport, is unable to play against Pool tomorrow night.

He kept a clean sheet in Saturday's win at Brentford, but the goalkeeper, under the terms of the loan deal, can only be involved tomorrow if County have no other recognised goalkeeper available through injury or suspension.

l Chris Shuker has admitted chances of moving to Pool on a permanent basis are slim. He returned to Man City after three months on loan and said: "I was a bit unsure about going up originally but I enjoyed my time there. I was able to train at Carrington a couple of days a week and then go up to Hartlepool on the Thursday. I think they wanted me to sign for longer but the deal looks to be dead now. I'm really not sure what's going to happen in the future. My contract is up at the end of the season and it doesn't look as though I will be offered an extension. But I need to sort something out so I've got some security."

Shuker played and scored for City reserves last week and will face Newcastle on Tuesday.