EMOTIONAL Ken Hodcroft last night saluted the Hartlepool United supporters who invaded Wearside on Saturday - and admits the day will live long in the memory.

Pool took the biggest number of away fans to the Stadium of Light in its six-year history as they bowed out of the FA Cup in front of the weekend's biggest crowd.

It was also the biggest attendance to watch a Pool game, beating a 51-year record, and now Hodcroft hopes the fans will stick with his club this season.

Pool's average home crowd is under 5,500 - they meet Peterborough at Victoria Park on Saturday - and Hodcroft said: "It really was an amazing sight, watching nearly ten thousand filling one end of the ground.

"They supported the team from beginning to end and they really were magnificent, creating a great cup-tie atmosphere.

"We've seen the average attendance at Victoria Park more than double since IOR took over, and on Saturday we had over 9,000 fans attending one of our games.''

He added: "We hope that those people who don't normally attend home games liked what they saw and want to sample some more exciting football at Victoria Park.

"I personally was very proud of the players' performance and the fans who came in such numbers.

"As usual, they were well behaved, enjoyed their day and were a credit to the club and the town."

Boss Neale Cooper admitted: "I was very proud from the word go. We stressed before the game not to get carried away with the crowd which could have affected the younger players.''

Read more about Hartlepool here.