By Albatross
May 10 2005

Hartlepool United must have one of the best playoff qualification records in English Football - five times in six seasons. However we've not made the Final on any occasion so far - can it be Fifth Time Lucky for Pools? It's a marvellous achievement to be extending our season yet again, and simply underlines how much progress we have made over the last few years. In 1998/9 we were happy simply to have avoided relegation from the Football League; since then the only time we haven't been in the playoffs saw us win automatic promotion. From lame ducks to one of the strongest teams in the lower divisions with scarcely a backwards look!

However, as we've failed to win a game after the end of the regular season, it has to be said that we've found getting there to be one thing and doing anything in them quite another! Luck can play a big part, and it's important to remember that it's effectively Cup Football - underdogs can and do win, form is no guide, and all it can take is one mistake, one dubious decision or one bit of bad fortune and that's it for another year. Our own history shows that with a vengeance!

Our first playoff campaign in 1999/2000 was one that was filled with drama. Sneaking in on the last day of the season was a massive moment for us - and the fact that we would be playing Darlo, whose large and well-paid squad had missed out on an automatic slot, just added extra spice to the occasion. After all the "We're so rich it's unbelievable" taunts, Pools would start on level terms with our neighbours. Sadly for us we failed to take advantage: Midgely's miss, Naylor's kiddology, Hollund's departure and a 2-0 defeat at the Vic and 1-0 at Feethams were enough to send us out. Still, Darlo didn't go up either and no-one had expected us to be even challenging at the start of the season.

The next year was different. We were in the top positions pretty much all the way through, although we had looked a little short of the automatic places. Having finished 4th we thought we were well set up for a successful playoff campaign. Arguably had it not been for the scandal at Chesterfield being so leniently punished we'd have gone up anyway; and in the Semi-final we had Blackpool. They had made it with a late run, and we'd beaten them twice already. Pools were strong favourites. Sadly Pools froze in the first leg, succumbing 2-0 at Bloomfield Road; any hopes of staging a recovery at the Vic faltered as we went further behind, and were pretty well extinguished when Jermaine Easter - on as a sub at half time - was deservedly and on his part stupidly sent off less than ten minutes after taking the field. We were 2-1 down on the day at that point, eventually losing 3-1 for a 5-1 aggregate thrashing. The fact that Blackpool then went on to win promotion was no consolation at all.

Turner had done a lot of rebuilding in time for the 2001/2 season, bringing in several players that were expected to make us challengers; however they took some time to gel. We were expecting to be there or thereabouts, but were bottom in November before a switch to 4-4-2 and the signings of Gordon Watson and Paul Smith revitalised the team. We picked up rapidly and again made it on the last day - after looking out of it, we won all of our last five matches to pull it off with victory at Exeter and a little help from Steve Howard, who scored to help Luton dispose of our rivals Shrewsbury. Cheltenham were our opponents, and having drawn 1-1 at Pools in the first leg - Westwood being blamed by some for their goal - we wondered if we'd make it; the answer was no, but the margin was tighter than ever. The same scoreline at Whaddon Road meant the tie went to penalties, and the decisive miss came when Richie Humphreys saw his penalty hit the underside of the bar but somehow stay out. Again, the disappointment was tempered by the fact that we'd only just made it in in any case - and we continued our good form to win through automatically the following season.

Last season we again sneaked in on the last day and bad luck probably cost us the tie with Bristol City. 1-1 in the Home Leg saw us up against it once more, but Sweeney's goal meant we were 1-0 up on the might and 2-1 ahead on aggregate with just two minutes to play. That was turned into a 3-2 aggregate defeat in added time; we hadn't put a defender on the bench, and paid for it in the second half as first of all Westwood went off injured and then Mickey Barron was knocked senseless after taking the ball full in the face. With Williams also having to limp off after a despairing attempt to tackle Christian Roberts as he netted the winner, we finished with ten men. The players had done us proud though, and while we knew that we had been so close to our first ever final there were few recriminations.

This year we've been looking candidates all the way but again made it on the last day in the end. It would be fantastic to reach a final at last, but getting in on the last day usually means playing the strongest side on paper so it's not going to be easy. Fifth time lucky? We can only live in hope.