Pools skipper Sam Collins is in a good form at the moment. The big defender has formed a good partnership alongside Gary Liddle in the heart of defence and the pair have played vital roles for Pools so far this season.

And, while Collins admits he has been happy with the majority of the campaign so far, he highlights the first half of the game at Stockport County as one to learn from.

"We made it quite difficult for ourselves in the first half at Stockport and that is not like us, it's not how we have been this season.

"The most important thing from our point of view is to work hard and if you do that, you tend to do quite well but we didn't do that in the first half."

And while Collins leads by example on the field, he reveals that the half time interval at Edgely Park saw all of the players giving their views on what went wrong,  

"There were a lot of home truths spoken at half time from the lads, Chris and Colin - no-one was happy.

"It has got to be like that - it is a good sign when the lads amongst themselves try to sort things out rather than it just being Chris and Colin all the time.

"It was pretty lively in there at half time but we got the reaction we were looking for.

"We just thought we had to go out there and gamble, go for it. The most important thing was to start closing them down further up the pitch and make sure their lads in midfield didn't get on the ball as much.

"And we got on top of them, we bullied them at times and in the end, we could well have gone on to win the game."

Having corrected their own mistakes in midweek, Collins insists Pools will go into the game at St James' Park with the determination shown in the second half of the game at Stockport,  

"We know now the standards we have set for ourselves with the work rate and quality we showed in the second half and now we need to take that into Saturday's game at Exeter.

"Hopefully we will get the result there and get up into the top ten in the League.

"Leeds are pulling away a bit but otherwise it is very tight in the league and if we start doing well in our home games and keep picking up points away from home then we will have a chance."

And Pools will be looking to pick up points this weekend - particularly after the long journey down to Devon,  

"Obviously we know it is a long way to go and after travelling so far, you like to come away with some kind of result so that is what we are striving for.

"I have never played there before - I think you could probably get to Tenerife and back in the time it will take us to get there.

"Our away form has been quite good in general, with the first half at Stockport being a little blip but we need to kick on again and go out and get a result.

"We've played ten games now and the league starts to sort itself out at this stage and you get a little understanding about where teams will be and we'll be looking to hang on to the top part of the table."