Sam Collins

By Clarence Rode
April 24 2008

Hartlepool end their home season on Saturday when Nottingham Forest visit Victoria Park looking for a win to strengthen their League One promotion hopes. But Pools boss Danny Wilson will be keen to ensure his team doesn't roll over for Forest and end the home campaign with another flop in front of their own fans.

After playing for just over an hour in the reserves team with clinched its Hi-de-Hi League title with a 5-2 win over Sheffield United on Wednesday, defender Sam Collins will be back in contention for Pools.
Wilson was far from happy with his team's defending in the 2-1 defeat at Brighton on Saturday, and if Collins is condidered fully fit after his rib injury, chances are he will be partnered by Ben Clark in  the middle of the Pools defence.
That means Michael Nelson (right) faces being dropped, as he was for the Yeovil game a month ago, only to be called up 12 minutes into the match when Collins went off injured.
But Pools' problems this season go a lot deeper than deciding who plays in the middle of the defence - Wilson will be looking for a performance that gives him and the fans some compesnation for the fruistration they have suffered over the last nine months.
The team's alarming inconsistency has angered Wilson and the fans and they are just as likely to give Forest a thumping as they are to lose.
Forest's ticket allocation for the game is sold out, but the other three sides of the ground are likely to be sparsely populated as the fans welcome the end of the season and look forward to changes being made in the summer.
Some of them are calling not just for changes in the playing staff -- they want to see a new manager as well. Whether owners IOR agree with that idea remains to be seen.