Midweek matchwinner Michael Woods says Pools won't be allowed to rest on their laurels

The Pools players will be full of beans at the Racecourse Ground following Tuesday night’s drought-ending 1-0 win at Cambridge United.

But Woods, the hero with the 63rd-minute winner at the Abbey Stadium, says Jones will not allow the players to bask in any glory with a vital match with Wycombe to prepare for on Saturday at the Northern Gas & Power Stadium.

“It’s been some turnaround, but we need to back it up now,” said the midfielder.

“We have a home game on Saturday against Wycombe, another huge game.

“You know what the gaffer’s been like since he came in, we certainly won’t be resting on our laurels at all!

“He’ll have us at it again and rightly so.

“He was moaning at us for celebrating two wins on the bounce - he’s said ‘start celebrating when we go nine or 10 unbeaten, not two’.

“That’s the mentality he’s trying to instill here.

“I think you can see that the lads are reacting to his methods.

“But we have to keep it going, we have to keep that work rate up because we can see it brings it rewards.”

There was no shortage of hard yards being put in against the U’s as Pools ended a five-and-a-half-month wait for an away victory.

“We’ve got to keep that going,” added Woods.

“We’ve been well in some games and fancied ourselves, yet come away scratching our heads wondering why we haven’t got anything.

“I think the hard work on the training field is paying off.

“The gaffer has had us in day-in day-out, working on team shape, both on and off the ball.

“That showed on Tuesday – that was a really good away performance.

“We’d gone so long without an away win so to do it like that was fantastic.

“There was no luck involved on Tuesday night, it was a really good solid performance and Joe [Fryer] has not had many shots to save, that’s how well we’ve played.”

The 26-year-old believes that result has moved Pools ever closer to a place safety, even if they are not out of the woods yet, no pun intended.

Pools are nine points clear of Newport County, though the Welsh side have won twice in succession following the sacking of Graham Westley, to show they are fighting.

Leyton Orient, also nine behind, look a beaten side, but it must be added that there are still 27 points on offer.

Woods says at least Pools are trying to make sure it’s in their own hands.

“You get sick of looking over your shoulders,” he said. “You don’t want to be relying on other teams.

“You want to be looking up the table, how far away are we from so-and-so?

“We don’t want to be worrying about what’s happening below us, but if we keep performing like that we’ll be fine.”