By Albatross
November 14 2004

Neale Cooper will no doubt be pleased: courtesy of Norman Whiteside, Hartlepool United have a home tie again in the FA Cup 2nd Round. Aldershot Town from the Conference will be our opponents in a game that Pools should start as strong favourites. Pools v Aldershot is a fixture that hasn't been seen for some time, after the Shots went out of business and out of League Football partway through the 1991/2 season. The re-formed club, plying their trade as Aldershot Town, have steadily risen from the depths of the Isthmian League to be on the verge of League Football once more last season as they lost out on Penalties to Shrewsbury in the Conference Playoff Final. This season they have continued to challenge at the top end and are currently 4th; they reached the second round of the cup by getting past Maidenhead and Canvey Island in home ties.

It's the sort of tie that Pools should feel relatively happy about to be honest; it's a home game, and against a side that's two divisions below us. We are now one of the bigger fish in the first couple of FA Cup rounds, and the Shots will not relish the prospect of travelling to Pools, although as one of an increasing number of full-time outfits in the Conference they should be capable of a decent standard of football. No doubt Coops will be treating them with respect; but if Pools can play to their potential there should only be one winner.

Yesterday's result against Lincoln was encouraging not only in how we avoided a potential banana skin, but also in terms of a good display on the pitch. We'd been struggling in some games recently, being extremely fortunate to beat Doncaster and also failing to impress in winning against Port Vale the previous week; but against a strong, physical side we dominated and fully deserved to win. We were comfortable enough that Ben Clark could be taken off at the break as a precaution without seriously affecting the course of the game - and we certainly impressed Imps boss Keith Alexander, who was quick to give Pools plenty of credit.

The tie with Aldershot is due to be played on the weekend of 4th/5th December; failing TV interest, it looks likely to be on Saturday 4th. Hopefully the club will again consider lowering prices, although yesterday's experiment is hardly likely to have encouraged them; only 4500 came to witness the show yesterday, despite the prices being slashed. Unbeaten at home in ten games, winning all but two of them, prices reduced - what will it take to persuade the fans in Hartlepool no doubt watching Newcastle on Sky even as I write this to turn up at Victoria Park?

Next up for Pools is Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough, and following their heavy FA Cup defeat at the hands of Swindon yesterday, Wednesday now have no cup involvement to distract them from their poor league form. Can we finally start producing the goods away from home? Here's hoping...