Hartlepool United manager Simon Grayson reacts to his side’s first defeat of the season to Forest Green Rovers.

A goal from Kairo Mitchell was the difference between the Enterprise National League leaders and Pools as it finished 1-0 at the New Lawn.

The Pools boss said: “When you look at the overall picture, that’s our first defeat of the season after eight games.

“I think everybody would have taken that at the start, given that we’re a new group put together.

“You can lose games in a certain manner, and you can be disappointed, but we’ve lost the game today where a lot of people will see that we’ve played well enough to get something out of the game.

“We started the game really well, we took the game to them, played on the front foot, and we created opportunities.

“In the second half, we saw them change their shape, and we still created opportunities against them.

“But the one overriding thought is that we need to be a little more ruthless at the top end of the pitch.”

Despite defeat, Grayson believed that the game was entertaining and that the test was good for the Club.

“I thought it was a great advert for National League football.

“We were both going at it, especially in the first half with the tempo, the movement, was very good from both teams.”

Grayson expressed his respect for his opposite number Robbie Savage.

“I’ll give them a lot of respect, they played with energy.

“They’re still undefeated, but we went toe to toe with them for large parts of the game, and that’s a real positive.

“They’re an entertaining and attack-minded team, they throw bodies forward, but we did the same to them as well.”

The full interview is on our YouTube.