By Clarence Rode
August 25 2008

It’s not the first time Pools have been mugged at Victoria Park, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take as a team happy with a point from a goalless draw manage to escape with all three thanks to an injury-time goal. And with Willie Boland joining Ben Clark on the injury list, Danny Wilson’s small squad is already on the verge of being exposed – and the season isn’t even a month old yet. The knives are out for Wilson in some places already, but before people start to shout for him to be sacked, it’s worth asking a few questions: 

• Was he allowed to spend any money during the summer?
• Is the squad as strong as he would like it to be?
• Is it his fault his only summer signings were inexperienced kids?
• Is it his fault when an opposing keeper plays like a world-beater? 

The answer in every case is “no”, and while we don’t want to set up Poolsonline as the Danny Wilson Fan Club, we firmly believe that he is the man for the job at the Vic and that he and the team are being held back by factors outside his control.
James Brown has signed a new Pools contract, and that has to be regarded as good news, and against Stockport Wilson’s team played as well as could be expected against a side clearly there for a point.
There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but even with an average keeper, Stockport would have been beaten by three of four. Owain fon Williams made half a dozen brilliant saves, while Pools also hit the bar and had at least one cleared off the line by a desperate defence.
If there was any justice in the world, Pools would have won easily, and if there was any justice in the world, the moaners would get off Danny Wilson’s back and try to think about the circumstances he is working in.
Would anybody else be able to do better with his hands tied behind his back?