Hartlepool United Football Club

Dave Challinor has challenged his players to kick-off the

Christmas celebrations early by collecting a big three points against Dagenham

& Redbridge on Saturday.

The Pools boss is determined to engineer a winning run which

would see his side climb the National League table and knows that a congested

festive schedule is the perfect time to get it going.

With games against promotion-chasing Harrogate Town and Barrow

also on the agenda for Pools in the coming weeks, Challinor reckons a weekend

would win can be the perfect platform.

“It seems an awful long time since our last home league gameand this is an important one for us,” he admitted.

“At this stage of the season we know that games don't become

‘must-win' but it almost feels like we have to get on a run – and we need to

get it started soon.

“Especially with the big games that we've got over Christmas,

it would be great to start on the front foot and set a positive tone for that's

ahead.

“To go in to the games against Harrogate and Barrow with

three points on the board and a chance to really affect our position in the

table would set us up for what we hope will be a good period.”

The Daggers arrive in the North East looking to bring an endto their recent sequence of four National League defeats in a row.

However, Peter Taylor's men were buoyed in midweek when they

fought through a tense FA Trophy replay against Sutton United to book their

place in Round Two of the competition.

Challinor has insisted that he won't be laying too much

importance on the visitors' previous form because he know Saturday will prove a

difficult test for his side.

“Dagenham started the season okay and had some really goodresults but then all of a sudden had some bad ones,” explained Challinor.

“That's typical of this league really and, like us, they've

not really found a level of consistency but they have an experienced manager

and assistant, as well as players who know what they're doing at this level.

“They beat Aldershot 6-1 a few weeks ago and then had a bit

of a dip but they had another good result in the FA Trophy on Tuesday so we

know to expect a difficult game.

“Like with every game though, it's winnable if we do things

right and cut out the individual mistakes that have set us back because we

haven't always got the results our performances have deserved.”