By Albatross
November 8 2004

Hartlepool United can consider themselves very fortunate to have beaten Doncaster Rovers on Saturday - but it does mean we are inside the top 10. Next up is the FA Cup, and a tie with Lincoln City; and there's an LDV game at Oldham at the end of the month as well. They reckon that it's the sign of a good side if you're picking up points without playing well, but Pools really are starting to give us some cause for concern. We're not playing anywhere near as well as last season, and Doncaster fans must still be wondering how they failed to become the first team to beat us at the Vic this season.

Some of the Donny fingers are being pointed at the Referee, who with the help of his assistant came up with a prime "Should've gone to Specsavers" moment by booking Chris Westwood for a foul committed by Mickey Barron - who many Rovers fans felt should have walked for the challenge. The Ref's colour blindness though meant that Cooper had the opportunity to make what proved to be decisive changes, with Joel Porter striking twice to take the points. It was a far from convincing performance from Pools, and while much credit has to go to Doncaster for the way they played, a team with serious ambitions of finishing in the top six shouldn't be dominated in the way Pools were in the first half.

The continued absence of Hugh Robertson is beginning to cost us dear, with Matty Robson struggling at left back and opponents rapidly working out that there's plenty of profit in attacking down that flank. Robson is more of an attacking player to my eyes, but with Robertson still on the sidelines it seems that he's the best option we have at the moment - unless Michael Nelson can suddenly regain favour by adapting to that position.

Nelson found himself on the bench on Saturday, and with Westwood and Clark forming a highly effective partnership (one goal conceded in three games) the smart money would seem to be on him staying there. He's quickly fallen from Hero to not much above Zero, and it may be that unless someone comes in for him quickly he (or maybe his agent) will have to eat some humble pie.

There were several good points that came out of Saturday, with Dimi Konstantopoulos starting to come into his own in goal, Clark looking very assured in the centre of defence, Jack Ross continuing his rehabilitation by setting up the equaliser, and of course Porter's double strike. Porter has now scored five times this season, and reached double figures for Pools in the process after scoring the same number last season. Joel has though been blighted with a certain amount of inconsistency in front of goal, and needs to start grabbing a few more to show that he should be a regular in the side.

Consistency is really the watchword for the whole team. Our home form is consistently good - only Luton have a marginally better home record - while our away form is consistently bad, the worst in the division. Added together, this makes us one of the most inconsistent sides in the division. It's a sign of how tight the division is that this hasn't stopped us reaching 8th place, and we are within range of a Playoff Place with a sufficiently good result in our next league game.

That is of course an away game at Hillsborough, where new boss Paul Sturrock isn't exactly having things his own way; before that comes our FA Cup encounter with Lincoln City. There will be a full preview later in the week, but for the moment it's interesting to note that the Imps seem to be very keen to talk down their chances. Keith Alexander claimed it was the worst possible draw for his side, although recent results suggest that this is going to be far from a stroll in the park as far as Pools are concerned - Lincoln have already won four times away from home this season.

Finally, Pools will travel to Oldham on 30th November in the Northern Quarter Final of the LDV Trophy. As one of the bigger fish left in it we have a great chance if we really want to go for it; as yet nobody seems to have told Bet365, who as of today were still offering odds of 14-1 for Pools to win the trophy. With only Tranmere currently higher in the league of the teams left in, that may be an offer too generous for some Poolies to resist....