Hunt’s performance helped nudge York over the line against their National League rivals, in a chaotic eight-goal thriller at the LNER Community Stadium.
The Summer signing could only label the match as ‘crazy’ when speaking after the match, and believes that the supporters played a huge part in aiding City to a first victory over Hartlepool in almost ten years.
“It was a crazy game, I think that it just needed someone to put their foot on it and calm it down at times,” Hunt explained.
“It was enjoyable, to say the least, we enjoyed it and scored five goals at home, the fans will be happy as they will want to see goals.
“There were a lot of good things to take out of it but obviously a lot of things that we will need to work on in training next week and tidy up for next weekend.
“This is what we live for as footballers, we train every week, five days a week, for games like this.
“Obviously we want to progress through the leagues as a team and the more you go up, the more fans you get.
RECOMMENDED READING:
“It’s that added pressure that you have to perform in front of it.”
Hunt registered his second goal of the season with another incredible free-kick that nestled into Brad Young’s bottom right corner, his second set-piece to find the back of the net in four matches.
It was his goal that allowed York to head into half-time with a two-goal advantage, with Hunt explaining his mindset when stepping up for a free-kick.
He added: “It’s just set-pieces at the minute, but I wanted to add more goals to my game.
“Goals and assists are what you are judged on ultimately as a player at the end of the day, so I wanted to be someone that scores goals and that’s happening for me at the minute.
“I just see where they put the wall.
“It was a pretty big wall and they were kind of blocking the ‘keepers view, so I just thought that if I can get it around them and have it bounce in front of the ‘keeper, then it’s got half a chance.
“That’s what happened, so happy days.”
It’s another three points for City as they defended their position at the top of the National League, but it’s also the sixth goal conceded in their last two matches.
Hunt agreed on the lapses of concentration which manager Adam Hinshelwood had discussed in his post-match interview, as well as how York were able to withstand the pressure with Hartlepool threw upon City early in the second-half.
“When we’re attacking, we know that we need to be set-up defensively in case anything happens.
“We’ve got to get that thought in our head, and that’s for us to work on as a team it’s not anyone’s fault or anything like that.
“It’s just about being more streetwise and managing the game at certain points, but it will come.
Alex Hunt curls home his second free-kick of the season for York City. (Image: Tom Poole) “We’re a good team and we’re doing well but I think that for every single game we play this year, we will be under the cosh for five minutes.
“That’s just football, you see it at the top level and you see it everywhere.
“We’ve got to learn to ride that out and I think that the way that the manager touched upon it in the changing rooms after is by playing our way, we don’t go away from that.
“We could get dragged into how they play their game, but it’s important that we stick to our game, which we did. We ended up scoring more goals, so we’ve got to keep doing that.”
It was goals from Ashley Nathaniel-George and Dipo Akinyemi that settled York’s nerves after a period of heavy pressure from Hartlepool, with Hinshelwood’s substitutions providing the needed influence to change City’s fortunes.
This wasn’t a surprise to Hunt, to see so much quality available from the bench, with the midfielder explaining how strong the squad is and how competition for places is a huge positive for the players.
“The squad is unbelievable, anyone that comes and watches a training a session would say how strong the squad is.
“The standard of training is unbelievable and I think that’s important, because we drive each other everyday.
“No one is safe in this team, you’ve got to earn it everyday in training and everyday in games.
“The manager’s not scared to make changes, even the people that are in-form might come out of the team for a little rest.
“Then they come back in and you’ve got to take your chance again.
“That’s football, and that’s why I like it here at the minute because it’s challenging and demanding everyday, it’s good.”
