By Albatross
September 6 2002

It's internationals this weekend, and Pools are joining in the fun: it's a long trip to South Wales to face Swansea City at the Vetch Field. Albatross looks at the form. It's an International weekend, and Pools are visiting another country! Well, Wales at least, to take on Swansea City.

It's not that long since we thrashed them 7-1 at the Vic, but expect a much harder game this time round; the memory of that still rankles with many Jacks, fans and players - defender Neil Sharp has called the performance the worst moment in his professional career on Swansea's official website. They will be after revenge.

It will be a very different Swansea side in terms of personnel too. Nick Cusack has seen a lot of players go, and a lot of players come in over the summer; and so far the Swans are having the same sort of problems as Hull, as he tries to get the new signings to gel. They currently sit in 21st place with 5 points from their 6 games, having lost their last two matches, 2-1 at home to York and 3-1 away at Bristol. Their only win was a 2-0 home defeat of Bournemouth.

Scoring goals has not proved to be a problem for them - so far they've netted in every game and have scored 10, one more than Pools. The problems are at the other end, where they have conceded 12 - the worst defensive record in the division. They will be hoping that the return of Kristian O'Leary from suspension will bolster them at the back, and many Jacks fans are also calling for the veteran Cusack to play there as well. However they have lost the services of right wing-back Lee Jenkins after he sustained a mild concussion in training this week.

James Thomas and David Moss have both scored twice this season, with the other goals being spread across a number of players.

The big news as far as Pools are concerned is that Paul Smith has had Knee Surgery this week and is expected to be out until the end of the month at least. This leaves a conundrum for CT; if he plays 3-5-2 then Robinson is likely to continue, but 4-4-2 might have to see Richie Humphreys move across. Tommy Widdrington is now ready for first team action again, and certainly a midfield quartet of Humph, Tinkler, Widds and Clarke away from home looks to be a very solid unit for what could be a tricky away game.

Youngster Matty Robson has also been added to the squad (as speculated on by me yesterday on our Message Board!) and may get a spot on the bench. Robson is a left sided player, and has impressed in pre-season and the reserves, scoring the odd goal as well - including the dramatic late equaliser against Darlo Reserves earlier this week.

Rumours are also circulating at the moment about a potential new signing: Keiron Durkan is surplus to requirements at Rochdale, and has just turned down a loan move to Halifax; it was reported in Halifax's evening paper that this was because of interest from Pools. Durkan is a winger, prefers to play on the right, and was a target for CT before opting for Rochdale last summer. He's struggled at Rochdale and isn't even a regular in their reserve side! It looks unlikely though that Pools will sign Durkan in time to appear at the Vetch, and there's no word on the Official Site. Given that the club's policy is not to comment on rumour and speculation this is hardly a surprise!

Prediction time then, and I'm going for a 1-1 draw, Watson to score for Pools. On paper it's a winnable game, but Swansea isn't an easy place to go to and a point would be a reasonable return.