Sam Collins - out

By Clarence Rode
November 17 2008

With League One results still inconsistent, not helped by even more inconsistent refereeing, Hartlepool need a win when they face Brighton in their FA Cup first round replay at the Vic on Tuesday. With a difficult League test at Leeds coming up at the weekend, a Cup win would do the spirits of the team and the fans the world of good.

The winners will be away to either Fleetwood, where they make Fisherman's friends, or Histon, where they drive tractors, in the second round, and that should give a League One side a perfect chance to make it into the big time in round three.
Pools have decided against appealing againt Saturday's sending off of skipper Sam Collins. Most people who saw the incident that ended in the red card - apart from ref Neil Swarbrick - seem to be agreed that he was treated harshly,  but Pools say they have had no help from the ref's assessor and don't want to risk having Collins's ban extended.
The last time Pools appealed against a red card for Collins his ban was increased because the club was accused of being frivolous. There often appears to be one law for the rich and one for the poor in football.
How the authorities can expect their "Respect" campaign to succeed when people don't earn it is a mystery.
So Collins is out, and so is on loan Kevin Kyle (right), but he didn't play in the first game at Brighton and Pools did well to fight back from a 2-0 deficit to earn the replay.
Danny Wilson says it will take him until well into the week to calm down after Collins's red card, and he had every right to be angry.
But he and his players now need to concentrate on the Cup replay - there's a lot of money at stake and Pools are hardly rolling in it at the moment.
They can't afford to feel sorry for themselves - they are at home and they've already beaten brighton at the Vic this season. Only a win will do.