The left-back, who made his first starting appearance of the season in the defeat at Scunthorpe last week, is confident that the club's form will turn around once the squad returns to full fitness and the new players settle in.

Day also hopes he can establish himself as a first-team regular after a frustrating summer spent on the sidelines.

Day said: "The atmosphere in the squad is still very good. Obviously one win from the first three games is not what we wanted, but no-one is down-hearted because there are still so many games left to play.

"We've had a few injuries and there have been new players coming in so it was always going to take time for us to settle down, but we will get better.

"I was happy to get my first 70 minutes at Scunthorpe and it should have done me the world of good. It was only a minor operation I had in the summer and it's all cleared up now, but I missed the whole of pre-season which set me back a bit.

"Hopefully I can keep my place in the side now. I was involved in most of the matches last season and we had a lot of success as a defence.

"Once I get my fitness back I am sure my performances will follow.

"The manager likes his full-backs to bomb on, especially at home, and we did that in total confidence as we had two quality, experienced centre-backs in Chris Westwood and Craig Morgan covering us."

Day is expecting another tough battle against a Hartlepool side boosted by Tuesday's win over Premier League West Brom in the Carling Cup.

But he believes the backing of the London Road crowd will help Posh gain a much-needed victory.

Day added: "If the crowd gets behind us like they can it would certainly help.

"I watched the game against Leyton Orient earlier in the season and if we play like that again tomorrow we will have a great chance of winning.

"It is another hard game though. Hartlepool had a great result in the week so they will be very confident."

Day is likely to keep his place at left-back as Shane Blackett is expected to partner Morgan in the heart of the Posh defence tomorrow. Westwood is struggling with the hamstring strain which kept him out of last Saturday's defeat at Scunthorpe.

Posh manager Darren Ferguson said: "Chris is struggling, but Shane Blackett did well last weekend at centre-half so I would expect him to be fine alongside Craig.

"But they will have to be on their guard as Hartlepool have two quality strikers in James Brown and Joel Porter."