MARTIN Scott believes a bit of trust among his Hartlepool United squad will soon see them back to normal.

Tuesday's point at Bournemouth was welcomed by Scott following the opening-day defeat at home to Bradford.

And, after a much-improved performance, the Pool boss knows his side will get better as the four new signings get used to playing with their new team-mates and new manager.

Pool fielded all four new boys in the opening game but Chris Llewellyn missed out on the south coast in midweek.

The Pool boss admitted: "I had the players in for training on Sunday and they were a little bit disappointed with the Bradford game. But we have a good set of lads at this club, a very tight-knit unit, and they are willing to work hard for each other.

"We've a few new lads in the side and they are going to take time to get to know each other and what I have told them all is that they have to trust each other.

"Sometimes a player might play the wrong ball or make the wrong decision but it is all about trusting each other on the field.

"At Bournemouth, two or three times Darren Williams cleared the ball away from trouble when the goalkeeper was coming out for it, but that's about understanding and I know that will come - it's something I'm not worried about and no-one else should be.''

Scott had plenty of time to ponder over the result - his squad didn't arrive home until about 5am yesterday morning.

The players trained yesterday ahead of Saturday's trip to Doncaster and Scott added: "I thought it was an improved performance from the weekend. We battled a lot better and gave a much more committed performance.

"Looking at the Bradford game, how many bad tackles and bad fouls were there? Not one.

"In the first game of the season I expected better than we got but we showed great resilience at Bournemouth and we had to because they are a good team.

"Taking into account the trip and the time of the season, I was delighted with a point.

"They had more possession than we did and I know we can certainly improve our ball retention.

"The first game left us down a little bit but at Bournemouth we hit back to show some character.''

* Jack Ross, whose time at Victoria Park came to an end a fortnight ago when club and player came to an agreement over his contract, has signed a one-year deal with Falkirk.

Read more about Hartlepool here.