By Albatross
January 27 2004

Get the gloves and scarves out! This is what following football is all about - a midweek game quite possibly in sub-zero temperatures, with snow possible. Vale Park is the venue, as Hartlepool United travel to Burslem to take on Port Vale. Both sides want the points, but who will take them? Port Vale are currently three points and two places ahead of Pools, in 7th position but with a game in hand on two of the teams above them (and also Pools), and two in hand on the rest. Tonight sees them catching up one of those games - the original fixture of course had to be moved because of our FA Cup tie at Sunderland.

The FA Cup is also responsible for their other game in hand - last Saturday's fixture against Colchester being moved to next month. Recent form is good, and with Vale having spent most of the season in the top 6 this is yet another hard game for Pools in a season that's seemed awash with them.

After a great start to the season - they won six of their first eight games, only losing to Pools in August - things went a little pear shaped in October, with three successive defeats that included being humiliated 5-1 at home by a rampant Plymouth side. Things started to pick up a little from the end of November, and since then there have been three wins, three draws and just one defeat. Since the Plymouth defeat, their home record reads Played 6, Won 4 Drawn 2; tonight will actually be their third home league game on the spin, and the other two saw them defeat Blackpool and then trounce Grimsby 5-1.

Leading scorer for Vale this season is Steve McPhee, with 14. Competing for a place alongside him up front will be Steve Brooker, Adrian Littlejohn and Billy Paynter who have scored two, five and nine goals respectively. Brooker hasn't been in great form for much of the season but after recent displays is the man in possession; Littlejohn had been suspended and didn't make it further than the bench in the last two games, while Paynter has found himself employed as a wide midfielder in a 3-1-4-2 lineup in the last couple of games - a role that Littlejohn has also filled on occasion.

Marc Bridge-Wilkinson will also need to be watched; the midfielder has scored three in the last two games, all of them a bit special. After Tinnion's winner against us at the weekend, Pools will not want to go down the same way again. Andreas Lipa, a former Austrian International, has played a big part in the Valiants success this season, and the back line is likely to feature Sam Collins, Neil Brisco (who starts a suspension after tonight's game) and former Everton trainee George Pilkington. Meanwhile, with Mark Goodlad continuing to suffer injury problems the Goalkeeper tonight is almost certain to be Jonathan Brain.

For Pools, Mark Tinkler is hoping to be fit to play despite having to be substituted just after scoring on Saturday, but if he fails to make it then Darrell Clarke will probably slot into the midfield. Up front, Joel Porter apparently played despite illness on Saturday and with Cooper criticising the finishing of our front two he may decide to change things round a bit. Robinson was on the bench on Saturday and may come in - but he still seems to be in the doghouse somewhat, with Istead given the nod up front when a substitute was required. Our resources up front that seemed so bountiful a few weeks ago suddenly look stretched - we don't seem to have a predatory finisher at the club at the moment, with Eifion remaining our best bet to score goals.

Beyond that, the only real question is who will fill the Left Back position. Matty Robson came in for some stick for his defensive performance on Saturday but may well keep his place; alternatively, we may see Scott Walker making his first appearance for the club, or John Brackstone coming back in.

Despite the predicted severe weather the game is almost certain to go ahead. There was frost last night, but Vale had the pitch under cover - and with no sign in the Potteries of the snow that was predicted for this week, it's game on. It'll be cold, and may snow during the match - so it's going to be a case of wrap up warm tonight!

Prediction time, and despite our early season victory it's difficult to see us completing a double tonight. Vale are in form, with only the fact that they have played fewer games keeping them outside the playoff places; meanwhile Pools seem to be misfiring up front. A draw is the best I can see us getting, but I think it's going to be a narrow 1-0 defeat tonight, and a long cold journey home.