Chris Wilder hails Northampton's fast start against Hartlepool

All three goals came in the first half at Sixfields where Marc Richards, his fifth league goal of the campaign, and Ryan Cresswell put Cobblers in control before Rakish Bingham reduced the arrears.

But while Wilder was pleased with the three points, he was not happy his side eased off after scoring their second.

He said: "At times we played really well but we took our foot off the gas once we went 2-0 up. We seemed to get caught in two minds in the second half but that performance was still good enough for me.

"We were looking for a good start and we got it but we didn't keep it going for 90 minutes. We had to set the tempo from the start because we knew they would be difficult to break down.

"We needed to move the ball a lot quicker than we did in the second half and if we had done that then we would have created more chances.

"I was disappointed to concede and it's important that we stay switched on at the other end when we have so much possession, that's how we got caught out for their goal.

"But there were a lot of positive performances out there and I'm delighted to get all three points. There are no easy three points in League Two.

Hartlepool boss Ronnie Moore knows his side must arrest their slide down the table or face another relegation battle after a seventh defeat in nine outings.

He said: "We shot ourselves in the foot. We knew that they start games well here and for 20 minutes I thought we were on the back foot and they could have scored three or four.

"They were daft goals, we had no strength, no leadership and then we weathered the storm. We had a great chance when it was 1-0 when (Andrew) Boyce headed over the bar and we could have been back in the game.

"Once we got ourselves back in the game, I fancied us. But we never really put enough pressure on them in the second half. We sat in there at times, we kicked the ball forward too early and we couldn't get our wingers involved.

"Northampton are a good side and they have good players, their start is what I've been trying to get out of us. We know where the problem is but it's trying to find someone who can lead us and organise things at the back.

"I was pleased for Bingham. If we had played the ball a bit earlier he'd have been in a few more times because he was a constant threat with their lack of pace at the back."