Cooper - hard game

By Charlie Summerbell
March 11 2012

0-0 says it all ... Hartlepool United and Walsall played out a game that was as featureless and uninteresting as the scoreline was blank. As one fan suggested long before the final whistle, from the entertainment point of view, it was the sort of game that will get football done away with.

There was a bonus for Pools in the form of young Jack Baldwin, who played in the middle of the defence when Sam Collins was injured in the warm-up, and looked as if he had been there all season.

Mind, he was helped by a weak home attack, but Pools were no better in a game neither side deserved to win.

Pools boss Neale Cooper admitted to the club website: “That was a hard game. We knew it would be because they beat Sheffield United in midweek, but it wasn’t pretty.

“We lost Sam Collins before the game, we lost Colin Nish on Friday, we’ve got James Poole and Luke James out, we’re bare bones really.

“We had three teenagers in the team, but we grafted, the back boys were excellent, but we need better quality at times on the ball.”

He described Baldwin’s performance as “different class”, but summed the game up when he added: I’ve been told the machine that videos the match is broken – it wouldn’t copy such a bad game.”