By Albatross
April 18 2003

Hartlepool United travel to Glanford Park knowng that a point will ensure promotion - but that all three are likely to be needed to keep us in pole position for the title. The good news is that despite their league position, all is not well for Scunthorpe at the moment.... Scunny are still in the Playoff picture, but recent results have left a number of their fans pessimistic. Currently 9th, three points off the Playoff spots, they have gone four games without a win and have lost their last two home games to Darlington and Bournemouth respectively. Unsurprisingly, this means that Brian Laws - who seems to have been on the edge for at least two seasons now - is once more under pressure from the supporters.

Laws is not without his selection problems for Saturday. Influential winger Peter Beagrie starts a suspension, and his normal replacement - Lee Featherstone - will be missing through injury. 16 goal Steve Torpey will miss the game through long-term injury - and things got worse for Laws when Torpey's replacement, the experienced Robert Taylor, had to be substituted last week with a back injury that is likely to see him out of the game. On the other hand, he should be able to bring back in his leading scorer Martin Carruthers.

Other changes are likely for the Iron, and it may be that Paul Dalglish - currently on loan from Blackpool - will start in a reshuffled midfield.

For Pools, it's unlikely that there will be any changes from the team that convincingly beat Orient last weekend. There are no injury or suspension worries for Mike Newell, and it's more than likely that he'll decide to stick with the same side. This means Kevin Henderson should continue up front with Eifion Williams, and Player of the Year Ritchie Humphreys will continue on the left.

We go into this game knowing that just a point will ensure Division 2 football next season; and that even that may not be needed if Bournemouth fail to take maximum points against Hull. However, it's not just promotion that's the target: we want the title, and that means we need the win.

Both sides have had dodgy form recently, but with Scunny looking a bit makeshift and Pools showing signs of getting back to the level we expect, I'm going for Pools to take all three points to cue a mood of celebration for Monday's game against Rochdale. 2-1, with Williams and Humphreys to grab the goals that will send us up.