DARRELL Clarke opened his Hartlepool United goalscoring account on Saturday - and immediately backed teammate Ritchie Humphreys to follow, writes NICK LOUGHLIN.

Clarke's strike gave Pool a quick boost after falling two goals down at Swindon.

And although they were knocked out of the FACup, they created a string of golden opportunities that went begging - none more so than one missed by Humphreys.

After Gordon Watson hit the bar, Humphreys followed suit from the rebound, but Clarke said:"Ritchie hit the bar - he's having a bad time at the moment, but he's just got to keep his head up and it will come.

"For the goal, the ball just came to me quickly and I just hit it in - I didn't see much of it, it was just a reaction.

"The lads did really well, we created a lot of chances and we certainly deserved more than we got out of the game.

"Any neutral watching the game would have thought that we were the Division Two side - you could tell by the fans reaction at the end of the game - you don't get a standing ovation if you haven't performed.''

Home boss Roy Evans admitted:"I thought that Hartlepool did really well.

"We should have closed the game down at 2-0 but we let them back into the game and they caused us one or two anxious moments in the second half.

"The two front lads have obviously got a lot of ability and they caused us problems.''

* Defender Mark Robinson was on the bench on Saturday after suffering a hamstring strain in training on Friday. He is expected to be fit for tomorrow's game with Halifax. Gordon Simms hurt his foot in the first half and had an X-ray last night.

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