Bjornsson - good game

By Charlie Summerbell
December 6 2009

There weren’t many shouts of “Turner out” at Victoria Park as Hartlepool United eased their way to a 3-0 win over Millwall … in fact, the injury-hit home side didn’t give the moaners much ammunition at all as they ended a run of three straight defeats that had caused frustration for players and fans alike.

It wasn’t all plain sailing – in fact, Millwall might have been ahead before Pools even got their early three-goal salvo going.
But it was all right in the end as Chris Turner’s team skated into a 3-0 lead before half-an-hour was up and coasted to victory.
Millwall looked dangerous a couple of times, and that's where the moaners will have found what little ammunition there was. But otherwise, it was all positives for Pools as they outshone a team that was six points ahead of them before the kick-off.
With James Brown yet again starting on the road to recovery after another knee operation and Richie Jones missing out on his return from suspension because of illness that got worse during the warm-up, the win was all the more impressive.
Peter Hartley started them off with a good long-range finish, Adam Boyd added a second with a good goal and Armann Bjornsson headed the third to reward himself for a good all-round display alongside Boyd in attack.
Turner was full of praise for the whole team, singling out Bjornsson and Leon McSweeney for special mentions, adding that they got the chance to play the game at the sort of high tempo that suits them, and got their reward.
The breaks certainly went Pools’ way, but they were due a change of luck and the result was a great boost for all concerned.
Having got back to winning ways, Pools go to Southend next Saturday, followed a week later by their last game before Christmas, a Victoria Park game against Yeovil – both teams are three points behind Pools in the table and on this form, Turner’s team is more than capable of getting points from the fixtures.
Pools look comfortable in mid-table, but it’s worth remember that they are only six points ahead of fourth-bottom Brighton as well as five behind Danny Wilson’s sixth-top Swindon.
League One might have some “big” clubs up round the top, but otherwise things are very tight and while a couple of wins can send a side surging up the table, a couple of defeats can have the opposite affect.
Consistency is all, and that’s a quality Pools have struggled to find so far.