Ronnie Moore looks for Hartlepool United to make run to safety

Wycombe Wanderers and Northampton Town both managed it last season, to secure their Football League status against the odds.

And Moore is praying that his Pools side can now put together a run of results – including back-to-back wins for the first time in over a year – in the final 12 games of the season.

Pools are currently seven points from safety with their league status hanging by a thread.

Moore said: “There is always someone that comes with a late run, the question is can we do it?

“People keep saying Wigan are down in the Championship but are they? I’m not so sure, they have enough quality in their side.

“Someone from our league will go on a run and I don’t see why it can’t be us but we have to improve away from home.”

The odds are certainly stacked against Pools, given they have gone 22 games away from Victoria Park without keeping a clean sheet.

They have only managed seven wins all season and will need to match that in the final 12 games to stand a chance.

Moore admits relegation rivals York City’s midweek thrashing of Cambridge United didn’t help his mood after watching his side beaten 2-0 at Dagenham & Redbridge.

He added: “I was on the pitch at Dagenham when the announcer said Cambridge 0 York 3 and thought ‘that can’t be right!’.

“It does feel like a knife in the heart when you hear that.

“But if we’d have won the game it would have been four points. That is how daft and how close we are to getting out of this mess.”

– RICHARD MENNEAR