htafc.com talked to a disappointed Andy Ritchie in the aftermath of his side's 2-1 defeat at Hartlepool United.

"It was a case of chalk and cheese tonight - we were the better side in the first-half and should have had a couple of goals but we didn't come out for the second half. We were all over the place and we ended up getting what we deserved, although we perhaps could have nicked a draw at the end. That's been the story of our season.

"In the second-half, the whole team didn't get close enough to their players, pick up any second balls or react quickly enough in either box. They were brighter than us in the second half. Their right-winger didn't touch the ball in the first-half but he ran the show in the second. There are no excuses - we didn't perform in the second period.

"We took Frank off in the second-half as he wasn't on his game tonight and I may have swapped Robbie too, but we had no other left-back.

"It was great to see Nathan on the score-sheet again and it was a great header from the corner. However, it was nothing more than a consolation. We're back at home on Saturday and we have to be more consistent - that lack of consistency is the reason that we are low down in the League.

"Compare this to the ninety minutes that we put in against a really tough Leyton Orient side on Saturday. We needed to come here and push forward, but we didn't.

"Once the players get onto the pitch, you sometimes don't know what is going through their minds and the second-half was incredibly disappointing. Inconsistency is common in young players and our squad is young, but we have to try and counteract that and the senior players have to do a bit more. Its hard task, but we just have to keep going.

"Jevo has pulled his calf, which we could have done without. We've been trying to get a striker in and we're going to have to redouble our efforts now.

"We don't have a major amount of options with Jevo's injury. Joe (Skarz) will be fit for the weekend as will Alex Smithies for the bench - he missed out tonight with a sore ankle."

"The Play-Offs are still mathematically there, but we've made it incredibly hard for ourselves now. There's still plenty to play for in the rest of the season and we have to get back to basics on Saturday for what will be a difficult game."