By Albatross
January 13 2005

A Boxing Day win for Hartlepool United at Victoria Park lifts them up to 4th place in Division 2; Oldham Athletic will feel however that they could and maybe should have got something from a game dominated by referee Phil Prosser. Pools continued with the same starting eleven that had demoished Wrexham, while Oldham included (to much booing) Kevin Betsy. He was partenered up front by John Eyre, with as expected leading scorer Killen missing out.

Oldham had most of the early pressure, creating one chance on three minutes that saw Konstantopoulos comfortably save at his near post; but they were struggling to find a killer pass. Betsy was being called every name under the sun, though I was pleased to hear that none of it was racist - "Greedy" seemed to be the main thrust!

Pools went ahaead against the run of play on 6 minutes. Pools broke away down the right, Boyd played in Sweeney and the Pools player was pulled down by Haining for a penalty that none of the visiting players contested. Remarkably, referee Prosser decided not to even caution Haining, when he might have been considered a little fortunate had he received only a yellow card. ADAM BOYD stepped up and made no mistake, sending Pogliacomi the wrong way to put Pools in the lead.

Boyd was again the centre of attention on 12 minutes, but for a different reason. He charged down a Free Kick from Pogilacomi well inside the Oldham half, and despite the fact that the Ref could hardly have been further away from the incident he decided Boyd must have been encroaching, booked Boyd (apparently for dissent, though it seemed to be of the "what did I do" shoulder shrug type) and marched the free kick forward ten yards. Inconsistency from Phil Prosser? You bet!

Betsy tried a shot from 20 yards that went wide on 14 minutes, but as before the goal Oldham were struggling to turn possession into meaningful attacks, with Nelson and Westwood in great form at the back. Nelson showed great awareness on 17 minutes when Betsy tried to play the ball through, getting in a superb block tackle that Sweeney then cleared off the Oldham forward for a Goal Kick.

Nelson was again in the thick of it on 20 miutes, when he was fouled just inside the Oldham half. Hugh Robertson took the free kick from around the Centre Circle, and it was a good one; so good in fact that Betsy was forced to foul Nelse to stop him scoring, and the ref had no choice than to award a second spot kick. Betsy was booked for his trouble, while BOYD made no mistake with the penalty to put us into a 2-0 lead that it was hard to say we deserved.

This seemed to displease Mr Prosser mightily, and he seemed to spend the remainder of hte first half looking at ways of giving our opponents a way back into the game. Nelson gave a free kick away 20 yards out that Konstantopoulos comfortably claimed, and the Greek Keeper reacted well on 28 minutes to stop a goal-bound header from a corner, scrambling the ball clear off the line with the assistance of Boyd.

Betsy then provided the Town End with yet more ammunition with a blatant dive 25 yards out that prompted "Cheat" to be added to the list of his crimes against Pooliedom; this time the free kick was deflected away for a corner off the wall, which Konstantopoulos comfortably claimed. Two minutes later Prosser gave them another crack from a free kick when Westie was extremely harshly judged to have climbed on Betsy to head away - this time the kick went wide of hte far post.

Pools were struggling to get a real grip on the game, with Oldham getting plenty of the ball and cutting out chances for Betsy (shot straight an Konstantopoulos) and Eyre (headed onto the top of the bar) before the whistle blew for half time. It had hardly been the best of performances from Pools, but Oldham's lack of a cutting edge meant that they didn't really look a major threat to our unbeaten home record.

Pools kicked off attacking the Town End, and on 49 minutes Hugh Robertson was called forward after Holden nad fouled Sweeney on the left flank. Hugh whipped in a dangerous ooking free kick, and Nelson managed to collect it on the far side of the area and beat a man before putting in a cross that was unfortunately too close to the goalkeeper.

Sweeney was the next player in the book, seeing yellow after a fairly innocuous challenge on Kilkenny on 52 minutes; shortly after Hughes added another card onto Oldham's tally after a bad foul on Eifion Williams. Then on 58 minutes Tinkler also picked up a booking after the ref gave a corner that didn't look anything like and the frustrated Pools midfielder gave vent to his feelings.

We were starting to control the game a little more though, and had our best spell of the match, winning a series of dangerous-looking corners and really putting the visitors under pressure; it was therefore doubly cruel that Oldham pulled one back against the run of play. Another strange decision from the Ref gave Oldham a free kick on the left flank; Kilkenny's ball across wasn't cleared by the Pools defence, and HOLDEN slotted home.

Oldham's lifted spirits showed as they looked for an equaliser. It almost came shortly after the goal, Kilkenny trying a shot from distance that hit the top of the bar. They were having plenty of the play, and Pools midfield seemed to be struggling to take control; too often we were clearing our lines only to see the ball coming back at us. Talbot shuffled his pack on 74 minutes, bringing on Bruce for the vetran Eyres and Vernon for the fast fading Betsy who seemed not to want to leave the pitch.....

Boyd went close to completing his hat trick on 75 minutes when he was set away on the break; ignoring Porter who was galloping across to the left flank, he beat his man before launching a 20 yard effort that was inches away from the far post with Pogliacomi struggling.

However this was only a brief respite from Oldham's efforts to pull level. Istead replaced the hard-working Porter, Williams moving up front; and Istead almost embarrassed Pogliacomi when he tried to latch on to a long clearance. Pools were definately on the back foot, but Oldham were starting to get frustrated; Bruce was shown yellow for fouling Robertson on 83 minutes, and a couple of minutes later Kilkenny was also booked for a cynical foul on Boyd, who had received the ball on the half way line and was in the process of turning his man to try and force a breakaway.

Oldham continued to press, amd with three minutes of added time to play redoubled their efforts. Cooper tried to use up a bit of time by swapping Williams and Boyd for Appleby and Strachan; an Oldham "goal" from a corner was ruled out for a foul; and with time already up a free kick into the box was fumbled by Konstantopoulos, who was then kicked at by Holden as he tried to reclaim the ball. The ensuing melee ended with a yellow card for the Oldham skipper, Pools played out the remainder of the time (six minutes extra played all told) and 4th place was ours!

Not the greatest performance, but a big crowd (6500), another win, and a playoff place. Next come two testing away games at Bristol City and Barnsley.