Sweeney - top scorer

By Charlie Summerbell
April 29 2012

It wasn't spectacular, in fact at times it was bordering on the desperate, but Hartlepool United ended their home season on the win manager Neale Cooper was so keen on.

But against a team which escaped relegation by one place, it was too close for comfort.

Now Pools can finish the campaign at Charlton next weekend, when the Londoners will be crowned League One champions in a  game that doesn’t really matter to either side.

Then Cooper’s hard work really starts as he tries to put together squad that can transform this season’s inconsistency and frustration into achievement.

Pools have a great away record, but at the Vic they have generally been awful, and against Leyton Orient they showed the sort of nerves that record breeds.

The fact that goalkeeper Scott Flinders was man of the match tells a story as he made a handful of great saves, the best early oin when he kept out Kevin Lisbie’s shot before Antony Sweeney’s ninth goal of the season gave Pools the lead.

Jamal Campbell-Ryce (honest, that’s his name) broke away to level for Orient, but after the break Evan Horwood’s cross was glanced in by on-loan Ryan Noble for the winner. Orient felt they did enough for a result, but they are safe from relegation thanks to other results.

Cooper told the club website: “It was a good result, but it wasn’t a good enough performance.

“There is a softness to the team ,… we need more leadership. When I was here before there were five or six captains on the pitch and if things weren’t right then it would be said. Nobody does that in this team.”

He obviously has a lot to do in the summer if he wants to transform soft touches into hard cases.