Chris Turner has insisted he is certain Pools have what it takes to claim a Carling Cup upset when they travel to Championship side Coventry City tonight (7.45pm kick-off).
Sheffield United, Derby and Plymouth were all humbled by lower league opposition in the competition on Tuesday night and Coventry - without several First Teamers for the tie - will be hoping to avoid a similar fate.
The Director of Sport knows his team will be in for a difficult game whatever side Coventry boss Chris Coleman selects at the Ricoh Arena.
"I think that even with their strongest sides out you still see some Championship clubs get knocked out so we go there with confidence," Turner insisted.
"Coventry will have players missing but we know that these clubs have good up and coming players who can come in and take their chance.
"We know it won't be an easy game that's for certain; we'll go there expecting it to be tough, expecting a challenge but looking forward to it.
"There are certainly worse places to go and play a cup tie than at the Ricoh Arena so the players will be looking forward to performing there."
Turner is full of admiration for the job being done by Coleman at City, and has backed the former Fulham boss to take the Sky Blues back in to the top flight - if he's given the time!
"Chris has inherited a situation there which you get with a lot of clubs who have come out of the Premier League and could easily slip down again," he explained.
"They survived a bit of a relegation battle and now Chris has steadied the ship, they had a solid season last year and now he'll be looking to kick on.
"They have some exciting players there in Clinton Morrison, Leon Best and Fredy Eastwood and slowly but surely they're getting stronger.
"I'm sure if Chris gets the time then he will take them in to a position where they are challenging to get back in to the Premier League but it doesn't happen overnight."
Pools look certain to come up against former keeper Dimitrios Konstantopoulos in tonight's tie at the Ricoh Arena.
It was no secret that Turner made a move for the Greek stopper earlier in the summer but no deal was reached to bring the keeper back to Victoria Park.
"We tried very early in the summer to bring Dimi back but when we realised it wasn't going to happen we moved on and got ourselves a very good keeper in Scott Flinders," Turner explained.
"It's a little ironic that Dimi will be coming up against us with the association he has with the Club thanks to his contribution in the play-offs and promotion.
"I know he hasn't had the best of times since leaving us but I have a belief in him and I'm sure he will rise back up to be a number one somewhere very soon.
"He's got his path blocked a little by Keiren Westwood at Coventry but hopefully his performance tonight doesn't do him any favours!"
