AFTER a week of hard work off the pitch, which ended with the signing of Mark Tinkler, from Southend, Hartlepool manager Chris Turner could have been excused for expecting some form of reward from his team at Scunthorpe on Saturday.

But a below par performance, combined with a series of individual errors, saw the home side coast to a 3-0 victory, and while the scoreline may have flattered Brian Law's team, on the balance of play the outcome certainly didn't.

With Kevin Henderson and Tony Lormor out through injury and Tim Sperrevik suspended, Hartlepool started the game with Andy McAvoy and Craig Midgley up front.

Unfortunately the pair did not have a good afternoon and as a result the midfield threat of Miller, Stephenson and Tinkler never materialised.

However, Scunthorpe's Steve Torpey and Andy Ipoua used their strength and speed to good effect and their ability to bring midfielders into play allowed the livewire Lee Hodges to help himself to goals at vital times.

It was Hodges who opened the scoring in the fourth minute when a hesitant Hartlepool defence failed to clear their lines and the ex-Wrexham midfielder punished them for their complacency.

But after surviving the early pressure, Hartlepool started to hit back but couldn't find the finishing touch to some dangerous moves.

Tommy Miller, who has scored six goals so far this season, broke through in the 13th minute but mis-hit his shot and gave Tom Evans in the Scunthorpe goal an easy save.

With Hartlepool pushing further forward they created another good chance in the 23rd minute when Paul Arnison supplied the cross only to see Andy McAvoy head over the bar from six yards.

McAvoy and Shilton both had chances to equalise before the interval but it was in injury time when Hartlepool came closest.

Mark Tinkler, who enjoyed a solid debut, surged forward and his fierce shot was palmed away by Evans and although Midgley pounced on the loose ball, the narrow angle proved too difficult and his shot flashed across the face of goal.

Any hopes of a second-half comeback for the visitors were dashed in the 49th minute when Lee Hodges grabbed his second goal.

'Pool keeper Anthony Williams raced to the edge of his box to gather a right-wing cross but collided with Steve Torpey, lost the ball, and Hodges made him pay for his error.

Six minutes later it was all over for Hartlepool when Steve Baker made a rare mistake and home striker Ipoua took advantage of his hesitancy to smash the ball past Williams for Scunthorpe's third goal of the afternoon.

But Hartlepool, to their credit, refused to lie down and McAvoy had a header kicked off the line by Torpey on the hour.

Towards the end, Scunthorpe could have added to their tally with Torpey and Wilcox both going close, but any addition to the scoreline would have been rough justice indeed to Hartlepool.

Manager Turner rang the changes towards the end, using all three substitutes and it was one of the new players, Stephen Boyd, who very nearly pulled a goal back only to see his delicate lob saved by Evans at the second attempt.

After the game the Hartlepool management duo, although disappointed with the result, tried to keep a positive outlook.

"Overall it was a disappointing display," said assistant manager Colin West.

"We were fairly happy with the first half and with a bit of luck could have gone in at half time 3-1 up, rather than being 1-0 down.

"Mark Tinkler proved today that he's certainly a winner and the only reason we took him off was to protect him.

"He was getting upset with some of their players and after being booked, we didn't want to see him sent off."

Manager Chris Turner was equally unhappy with the result.

"We handed them the game on a plate.

"Each of the goals was down to individual errors.

"No matter what level of football you play at, you're not going to win games when you give three goals away."

Hartlepool have an early chance to redeem themselves as they have to return to Glanford Park in two weeks' time for a first-round FA Cup tie.

But if they are to proceed in the competition their performance will need to improve from the level they showed on Saturday