YOU won't find Chris Turner joining the campaign for an extra Bank Holiday or two to be added to the working calendar.

The Hartlepool United has had enough of Bank Holiday travelling this weekend to last a lifetime.

On the busiest weekend of the year on Britain's roads, Turner's players have been forced to go on their furthest trip of the season - a 700 mile round-trip to Torquay - before the double fixture programme means Pool have to be bright, sharp and ready to take on Hull City at Victoria Park this afternoon.

And that's not an easy task when you have played 90 minutes of football in the baking heat on Saturday before spending seven hours travelling and arriving home when it's kicking out time in the nightclubs.

Pool didn't show any signs of travel sickness at Torquay on Saturday, far from it, as they created enough chances to have won the game.

But after Ritchie Humphreys scored the opener with a superb 35-yard volley, they couldn't hold onto the lead for long and headed up the M5 with a point from a 1-1 draw.

It wasn't Pool's draw that irked Turner, he was satisfied with the performance, but the harsh hand dealt by the Football League's fixture computer.

And he had plenty of time to stew over it on Saturday night while heading North as the miles ticked by.

"It's an horrendous time for us,'' reflected Turner. "Teams in the Premiership wouldn't be forced to do it. So why do we?

"Why are the Football League playing on Monday and the Premier League aren't?

"It's OK for Torquay they played us at home on Saturday and then go to Exeter on Monday - they don't even have to travel. It if was Arsenal, Liverpool or Man Utd then there would be headlines all over the papers about it.

"The smaller clubs just have to get on with it.

"Ideally, if we have to go to the south coast, we would play Torquay on Saturday and then Exeter on Monday. In today's modern age you would think they could come up with something better than this.''

Now, after the disappointment of losing at home to Macclesfield nine days back, Pool tackle Hull and the Pool boss added: "Hull is an attractive fixture for us and we are looking forward to it.

"We played in temperatures of something like 75 degrees on Saturday and yet the fitness levels of both sides were superb.

"While I was on the bench I said that if I had paid money to watch this game I would have been happy.

"We've took four points from seven games, which is one point off what we are looking for. I want to average two points from every game, so a win on Monday will put us right.''

Torquay has never been a happy hunting ground for Turner and Pool.

Before Humphreys' goal, Pool's last strike at Plainmoor was a 1997 Joe Allon header. Since then there's been four defeats and a draw, with Turner yet to lead Pool to a Plainmoor triumph.

Two of those defeats have been courtesy of Eifion Williams, the Torquay striker who always seemed to hurt Pool.

On Saturday, Williams couldn't add to his goal record in the fixture, but he couldn't have been closer as he faced his former Torquay teammates for the first time since moving to Pool.

He should have scored on the stroke of half-time when Gordon Watson's cushioned header dropped in front of goal, but he was always stretching and lifted the ball over the bar.

Humphreys' goal - his second of the season - was his seventh for Turner and he hasn't scored a better one either.

Collecting Darrell Clarke's nod-down 35 yards from goal, he saw Kevin Dearden off his line and instinctively volleyed home.

But they couldn't hold onto the lead. A free kick from the right was aimed towards Marcus Richardson and he outjumped Graeme Lee to head past Anthony Williams.

Fit-again Paul Smith came on as Pool tried to find the flowing football which has become their trademark, but it's only early and it will come.

Turner added: "I think that later in the season, with a few more games behind us, we would have won the game. I saw that Arsene Wenger said that it is ten or 12 games before they really get their season started and that will be the case for everyone.

"Later in the season we could have scored and held onto the win. But I thought they always looked dangerous at set-pieces and putting balls in to the box.

"We had enough chances to score a few goals, but they came back at us well.

"They have a good team at Torquay now, probably the best we have played in the last few years and this will be a difficult place to come this season."

Skipper Micky Barron could have been red-carded after hauling down Tony Bedeau as the striker motored down the left flank.

He was yellow carded, but bright spark Jason Fowler thought it would be clever to race 40 yards to throw the ball in Barron's face and after being booked minutes earlier for a woeful foul on Smith, he was shown a second yellow.

* Today's game is all-ticket and Pool fans can buy tickets from the club shop between 10am and noon.

Read more about Hartlepool here.