THE grand splendour of the Millennium Stadium is only a distant memory for Hartlepool United.

After trudging away from Victoria Park on Saturday, many headed for the pubs and clubs to watch England beat Wales.

The conversation wasn't the merits of Sven-Goran Erikssons 4-5-1 formation, it was more like 'did we really play there last season?'

Because on Saturday's showing, Pool are a million miles away from being anything like the team that was so close to promotion in the Cardiff play-off final last season.

Gone is the free-flowing football that ripped teams apart at Victoria Park and the strong back line that never gave the opposition a sniff.

Instead, just eight games after agonisingly falling to Sheffield Wednesday, Pool are lumbering at the wrong end of the table. In four home games this season, they have scored four goals and taken just two points from a possible 12.

Confidence, as Martin Scott reiterated, is a scarce commodity.

After being fortunate to salvage a draw with Scunthorpe seven days back, it was hoped the late penalty saver would prove a turning point, the incident which brought back some much-needed self-belief to the squad.

Instead, they fell even further down the optimism ladder, losing to a very average Yeovil side who made the most of Pool's indecision.

For the first 20 minutes, Pool were well on top against a team yet to win a League One game since promotion. They created a plethora of chances, but after failing to take them retreated into their shell.

When Yeovil scored - and their goal was too similar for comfort to that scored by Walsall at Victoria Park a fortnight earlier - Pool, tellingly, failed to create a single scoring chance.

When players are arguing on the pitch, as they did on Saturday, when things are going wrong it's a sign that all is not well.

Scott held a 45-minute inquest in the dressing room afterwards and stopped his players from facing the Press.

When he emerged, the studious Pool boss was without his normal charisma.

"The performance wasn't good enough as a team - and it is a team, including the players on the bench,'' said Scott. "They are totally lacking confidence, totally lacking belief and the willingness to get on the ball and enjoy their football.

"We have seen a group of lads who are not not willing to work for me - that's not the issue - we've a great squad who have worked extremely hard for me from day one.

"Previous managers here spoke of them all highly, so there is no lack of effort from that point of view.

"But lack of confidence and lack of effort are two very similar things.

"If I was a supporter, I wouldn't be happy with the performance, and they have the right to have their opinions on that, but it's not a group who are not willing to play for Martin Scott.

"They are lacking belief, especially at home. We've got to be mentally tough and this where you look to your leaders.

"There wasn't enough leaders out there. We can all play when things are going well and you are 6-1 up against Grimsby and go on to get eight.

"You get your great games on Sky TV like last year, we can all play that - I could still play in games like that.

"In this situation I need players who are willing to stand up for me as a manager and there wasn't enough of them.''

Four good chances were created in the first 25 minutes. First Carl Jones, making his debut on his 19th birthday, saw his close range shot diverted over after just 90 seconds, then Michael Proctor latched onto a header in behind the back four but fluffed his shot wide.

The best chance was when Ben Clark ran in from deep to meet Ritchie Humphreys' corner only to thump his header wide.

Tony Sweeney turned a ball across the face of goal but there was no-one on hand to knock it in.

Tellingly, Adam Boyd was seeking treatment at the time. He was exactly the sort to get in there to net. Instead he hobbled off ten minutes later and Pool's spark had gone.

Proctor got into a similar position as before, but again wasted the chance, this time shooting low at keeper Chris Weale.

Weale escaped thanks to the officious referee when he flapped and totally missed Humphreys' corner which sailed into the net.

He missed the ball because of his own incompetence, not because Proctor was stood in the six yard box, but referees are good at spotting things no-one else in the ground can see and Darren Drysdale very wrongly ruled it out.

But while referees play their part, he can't be blamed for the only goal.

Darren Williams misread a high ball and pulled down his man. Lee Johnson angled the ball into the six yard area at pace and Pablo Bastianini ran in to stoop a free header past Dimi Konstantopoulos.

There was no response, a Proctor chip across the area intended for Sweeney was all they could muster and Yeovil saw out the game with too much ease.

It's a long time since such a cacophony of boos rang round Victoria Park at the final whistle.

"When things aren't going for you the least you can do is come off the pitch with a clean sheet,'' said Scott.

"We haven't done that because we switched off, we weren't organised. They took a quick free-kick and we haven't got the trust in our own team-mates and we concede.

"Their system worked a treat for them and there's probably another 20 teams who will come here and try the same.

"We need players who will run for the ball, pass the ball to their team-mates and there is not enough of them at this moment in time because they are lacking confidence.

"After 25 minutes we had players giving the ball away, making wrong decisions and then they start to hide and picking wrong balls, the longer ball, and not taking responsibility.''

* Pool have appointed former Sunderland physio Gordon Ellis to replace John Murray, who left the club in the summer for Luton. Terry Mitchell, manager of Northern League West Allotment and who has coached at Newcastle United's Academy, is in line to replace Ian Kerr as Director of Youth.