NEALE Cooper last night revealed a period of hard work on the training ground is paying a quick dividend for Hartlepool United.

After conceding three goals at Peterborough on the opening day of the season and two at Sheffield Wednesday last week, Pool kept a clean sheet on Saturday against Tranmere. Pool go to promotion favourites Bristol City on Saturday and Cooper admitted: "We've done a lot of work with the defence in training and I think we showed the benefits on Saturday.

"Westy was excellent again, a different class and Jordan had a good game. Micky Barron came back into the team and did a good job at wing-back. It's a difficult role, but he got forward.

"We watched Tranmere last week and knew they were going to be a well-organised, strong side.

"We weren't there in the first-half, but got it right in the second period and we played a lot of good football.

"Tranmere put a lot of balls into the area, but we defended them well and when Jim Provett had something to do, he did it well.''

He added: "Tranmere are a good side, they will be up there near the top and we matched them.

"The quality of football has been excellent so far this season. There are a lot of big teams in this division and we have showed we can match them. We were a lot more fluent in the second-half. The use of the ball wasn't good early on.

"I felt that young Matty Robson was a bit off the pace. He's a young boy and has played two very good games in a week and Tranmere had a lot of balls coming over from his area. Ritchie Humphreys looked happier in the second-half.''

Marco Gabbiadini made his first appearance on Saturday, as a second-half substitute and Cooper said: "He's coming along nicely. He's doing a little bit extra in training every day and we got a good half hour out of him.''

* Former Pool midfielder Tommy Widdrington has signed a contract until the end of the season at Macclesfield Town. He played pre-season for Oxford, but a move failed to materialise.

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