Hartlepool United verdict: Swindon Town defeat does little to help Pools' precarious position but does Keith Curle have hope to cling to

As Plymouth Argyle loan striker Luke Jephcott wheeled away in celebration after heading Swindon Town into an early 2-0 lead in Wiltshire, Curle was forced to examine the body language of his players. It was the worst possible start.

Four days earlier, when conceding a second in the Papa Johns Trophy to Everton’s under-21 side, Curle observed as his players capitulated under the Suit Direct Stadium floodlights. Jephcott’s goal meant it was eight unanswered for Pools in just 107 minutes of football. At that point, you would be forgiven for extracting your abacus in fear of what might have been to come.

Curle had challenged his players, in the wake of their 6-0 mauling by Everton under-21s, to stand up and be counted. The interim boss referenced boxing heavyweight Tyson Fury when asking: Could his players take a knockout blow and pick themselves up off the canvas? We were about to find out.

But it was not just the adversity of finding themselves two goals down less than 20 minutes into the contest. Pools were also forced into a substitution with Mark Shelton aggravating his calf, before Mouhamed Niang would join him in the treatment room clutching at his hamstring soon after. Within 20 minutes, the game plan had gone out of the window.

It was an imposing hole which Pools had dug themselves. Swindon head coach Scott Lindsey, at that stage, questioned his side for not 'sticking the knife in' to Pools given their brittle nature. But managers often relate to being able to learn more about their side in defeat than in victory and Curle, as he relayed post-match, was pleased they were able to stand before the 10-count at 2-0 down.

They may have been dazed, and a little weary legged, but Pools stood back up and at least gave themselves a chance in this game thanks to Clarke Oduor's first goal for the club. The enthusiastic work of Niang, one of his final impacts on the game before being forced off, allowed him to capitalise on a mistake in the Swindon defence and cross for Oduor who finished well.

Hope? Perhaps, but it was, at least, better than being down and out. When teams find themselves on the precipice within these elongated ruts in form, it almost becomes an inevitability. You’re waiting for the crisis to happen and swallow you up. The very first minute of the game saw Alex Lacey miss a routine interception which then forced him to foul Jephcott, for example.

At 2-0 down, those mistakes, and that adversity, could have avalanched on Pools even further. Instead, they at least gave Swindon something to think about on the scoreboard.

“We let them back in and then it becomes an anxious game when it doesn’t need to be,” Swindon head coach Lindsey told BBC Radio Wiltshire.

And while those comments, and that goal, did not yield what are becoming precious points for Hartlepool, the defeat at Swindon will at least give Curle something to cling to ahead of a crucial week. For clinging onto hope is all Pools have at this moment in time.