HARTLEPOOL UNITED didn’t lose to York because of ten minutes of defensive calamity. Defeat was more symptomatic of the situation the club finds itself in right now.

And, for all their efforts, it’s proving harder to end the malaise and stop the rot.

Bottom of the table, and looking like they are there to stay, Pools played some of their best football for 30 first-half minutes against York. One-goal to the good, surely a second would have been enough.

The first-half was as cohesive and committed as they have been in a long time. The second-half was more like the Hartlepool United of 2014. Unable to maintain their level of performance, they shipped three goals in ten minutes and never looked like coming back from it.

Is their current predicament down to the stagnation of the last few years? It’s almost ten years since Pools’ finest hour, the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium. The way they are going, they are finding an alternative method to commemorate it come May.

Sam Collins was big enough to hold his hands up and admit that Keith Lowe, the scorer of two headers for York in quick succession, was his man. Collins wasn’t supposed to be playing every week this season, but he’s become the first man on Paul Murray’s teamsheet. That’s down to the paucity of the squad left by Colin Cooper.

Did Cooper work the oracle in keeping Pools out of the bottom two last season? Did he leave Pools in a rotten predicament after a summer of poor recruitment? Or is this season part of the steady decline of recent years?

“We are in an uneasy situation, at the bottom. No-one is enjoying this, where we are,’’ reflected Collins, in caretaker charge the last time Pools won a League Two game, at Exeter in mid-October.

“I think the majority of what we have are an honest group, 80 per cent of what we have got are people are trying, caring. We have a brilliant staff and players really care. We don’t want to be where we are.

“We know why we are there, we know what’s gone wrong. What we need to get back up the table is to know that on our day we are good enough to beat anybody.

“We have played the better teams and are they much better than us? Probably not. It’s those small moments in key areas which prove the difference.’’

Collins added: “We survived last season, there’s a lot of reasons why we are where we are now which aren’t for me to comment on. We have to stick together, players, staff, as a club, everyone is in it. Work hard and we can turn it around.

“A win will give us something to build on and when I was doing the job, I spoke about momentum.

“We hoped this with a few home games to come on the back of a couple of home games without defeat was something to build on.

“It’s daft, but played so well for 30-35 minutes. Important moments, chances, probably cost us as we could have been three-up.’’

York did start well, but they were repelled by Pools, who grew into the first-half.

Scott Fenwick, on his first start, took his chance and impressed, giving the York defenders a good going over. He took his goal well, a fox in the box to turn in Marlon Harewood’s pass.

Three minutes later he was denied a second by a block, then he headed over from a corner when really he should have scored. Harewood fired an angled drive across goal.

But the Minstermen came out at the second half firing. Michael Coulson cleverly worked an opening and Scott Flinders saved well.

From the corner, Lowe got a couple of yards on Collins and headed in, where a defender on the post would have cleared.

Two minutes later, a short corner from the other side was swung over and again Lowe headed in.

“The goals were tough to take – I was marking the lad for set-pieces, so it was my fault,’’ admitted Collins.

“I’ve been here long enough and people know if I make a mistake I will hold my hands up. The two goals were my fault. He got across me and we should have done better for the short corner, but both times he got across me.

“If I make a mistake, I hold my hands up – it’s my fault.’’

The third came from a break, finished well by Jake Hyde. The Pools defence were all sucked towards the ball on the flank, leaving space for the striker to plough on through the middle.

It was the first time York had come from behind to win in over two years.