CHRIS Turner belives a burning sense of injustice and anger will help fire his side next season.
Pool are back today from a five-day training stint in Holland, where they romped to 12-0 victories over Theole and SV Nootdorp on Wednesday and Thursday.
And while the part-time opposition didn't offer much resistance, Turner is delighted with the way his squad have started pre-season preparations after suffering play-off heartache last season when they lost out to Cheltenham on penalties.
"There is a lot of quality in the squad and a lot of anger as well, which can be channelled in the right direction for the season,'' he said. "I have a great bunch of lads here and they are as determined as ever to get promotion this year.
"It's not an arrogance - we have had three near misses. If we don't go up then people can throw it back at us and maybe claim we were too arrogant. But when was the last time our supporters have gone into a season talking about promotion?
"I sense from the players talking among themselves that they are focused on nothing else this season than promotion.''
Turner has yet to make a move in the transfer market this summer and is highly unlikely to. Tommy Widdrington should return from injury in the early stages of the season after being sidelined since January and the Pool boss splashed out £25,000 on striker Eifion Williams in the closing weeks of last season.
Thursday's stroll against SV Nootdorp saw Pool's second XI make the most of their chance to shine and after two overwhelming victories, Turner defended the trip.
The Pool boss was quick to knock back suggestions that the part-time opposition have been too easy.
He said: "From afar, people will look at the results and say what a waste of time it has been to come here and play teams we can beat 12-0, but he opposition kept trying to play football and make things difficult for us. The Nootdorp game was a chance for the squad to impress and they did.
Read more about Hartlepool here.
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