ANTONY Sweeney has known Micky Barron long enough to be able to hand out the flak, even if the midfielder is now looking up to his former team-mate as a manager.

Barron took over ahead of Saturday's 2-2 draw at Brentford following the exit of Neale Cooper last week.

And, while Sweeney has struggled for form this season, the midfielder offered his best performance of the campaign in West London.

He was also at the forefront of the jokes aimed in Barron's direction.

The caretaker boss has always worn a tracksuit in the dug out, but opted for a tailored suit this time, complete with a blue and white Pools' club scarf.

"He wore that suit for a wedding we were at during the summer and he still had some of the stuff from that in there on Saturday,'' laughed Sweeney.

"He got a bit of stick from the lads.''

Barron explained: "I've been getting stick from the lads for wearing a suit but I wanted to and it's about image - a tracksuit wouldn't have been the right image.

"I didn't want to do the warm up before the game, I wanted to keep away from that.

"I think it shows to the players I am leading the team.''

Sweeney made his breakthrough into the first-team under Neale Cooper during his previous spell in charge, but struggled of late.

However, the 4-5-1 formation suited him and, after playing with some verve even Brentford boss Uwe Rosler was left singing his praises and the German said: "We expected them to play 4-5-1.

"They had Sweeney, who was fantastic; he made fantastic diagonal runs behind our left centre half.''

Sweeney was glad to get back on the pitch following a tough week and admitted: "It was difficult to see Neale go.

"I know he was getting a bit of stick around the town and he wasn't himself the last few weeks, that was hard to see.

"We have to take most of the blame for that because we're the lads on the pitch.

"Not that anyone was performing badly to see the back of him - far from it.

"He's a really nice fella and I've been in contact with him and he's wished us all the best. Hopefully now it's a fresh start for Micky as his own man and he's in the job at the moment and we'll try our best to see what we can do for him. I know Micky well and I hope for his sake and ours that he can do well.''

Barron got the best out of Sweeney at the weekend, and revealed a spot of inspiration from the players' wives helped.

The caretaker manager's wife was in touch with Sweeney's and Barron admittwed: "Players do go home miserable in this position when you are bottom of the league and not getting the results and they are unhappy at home.

"Some of the players' wives are friends with my wife and it gets back to me.

"Hopefully everyone has a smile after this. Sweens' wife contacted my wife and asked if he can come back happy - hopefully he did.''