Big Sam - welcome back

By Charlie Summerbell
January 20 2010

Chris Turner says his Hartlepool United team restored the club’s pride with their performance in the midweek 2-1 defeat at Charlton … but while their form was a lot better than in the home humiliation against MK Dons three days earlier, the result was exactly the same. They still lost.

And that’s a worrying trend Turner will be desperate to put right when they make another long trip on Saturday, this time to face Bristol Rovers.
Not surprisingly, Turner made changes for Charlton with Sam Collins making a welcome return in the middle of the defence.
Richie Jones and Adam Boyd were both on the bench, while Denis Behan did a good job as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation. Behan scored from the spot after Sweeney was fouled in the second half to level the game at 1-1, but a late 30-yard goal put paid to Pools’ hopes of a point.

Turner said that he didn’t have a go at his players after the MK Dons defeat because he felt they didn’t need to be told how bad they were, but at Charlton he felt they were unlucky to lose.

He praised Behan, Collins, Gary Liddle and Joe Gamble for their performances, but felt it was a team effort that made such a difference.

They’ll need to do just as well if they are to get a result at Rovers on Saturday.

The question remains, though – why did they play so badly against the Dons?
Only the players know the answer to that one, but it’s important they ensure that it was just a one-off blip rather than a sign of things to come.
Pools’ home form has not been the best this season, but it had never even threatened to get as bad as it was against the Dons.

Teams do have hiccups, the pity about this one for Pools – if, indeed it was a hiccup – was that it happened at home and at the start of a difficult run of games.