PAUL Stephenson is hoping for a repeat showing this afternoon.

Hartlepool United's temporary boss, in charge until the end of the season, got off to a winning start in his only home game in control.

Pool beat Chesterfield 1-0 at Victoria Park 15 days ago and, after three games without defeat under Stephenson's command, confidence is high in the Pool camp.

The upturn in fortunes and belief rubbed off on the crowd and Stephenson was delighted with the terrace reaction.

Three points this afternoon against Doncaster could lift Pool into mid-table in a tight division.

Stephenson said: "Our last home game was a good all-round performance and I think people enjoyed themselves, the players and the crowd.

"We want the crowd to get right behind us again, I think you could see how much the players appreciated their support.

"All this week a lot of what I have done is encourage players and it shows how much you can get out of them with some encouragement.

"If the fans can do the same again we can get even more from them. Hopefully confidence is really starting to build up now and we have to try to drive that home.''

Just six points separate 12th-placed Bradford City and second-bottom Rotherham United.

Pool are seventh bottom on 38 points, only a point above the drop zone.

Without a game last weekend as opponents Colchester faced Chelsea in the FA Cup, results weren't too harsh on Pool and they entered the new week, with Director of Sport Chris Turner arriving at the club, plotting Doncaster's downfall.

"The league table is very tight, with about 12 teams looking over their shoulders at the relegation places,'' said Stephenson. "We know it's probably going to go right to the wire but we know the more teams in it the better for us.

"We want to get out of the situation we are in and continue moving in the right direction.

"You don't want to focus on what other teams are doing too much, but their results are important, especially like last week when we weren't playing.

"I think we all had one eye on results and scores and I think we had a good weekend in terms of results, considering we couldn't affect anything.''

Just like Pool, Doncaster have gone three games without defeat and without conceding a goal. It's 303 minutes since their backline was breached, 278 since Pool were beaten.

"Doncaster have strung together a few results, they are in a good run, and you can see what they have done because of it,'' said Stephenson.

"But we have done something similar. We've kept three clean sheets, but the hardest part of football is sticking the ball in the net, that's why the strikers are always paid the big money."