By Albatross
February 3 2006

It's been another momentous week at Hartlepool United, and even now fans will be working out how to make "Paul Stephenson" fit into the "Blue and White Army" chant. Stepho's first assignment is to get a result against Rotherham United at Millmoor - will there be further chances for him? Amidst all the rumours, speculation and occasionally news from the club, there is in fact a football match on Saturday and temporary boss Paul Stephenson will be holding the reins unless there's a further announcement from the club after writing this. I was about to say it's a vital game, but to be honest every game from now until the end of the season is vital if we're to get out of the relegation zone and stay out of it.

Rotherham though is vital in the sense that it's one of a very few opportunites to play a team that's below us in the table. They are the only side to have a worse home record than Pools in fact, with just three wins and fourteen points from fourteen games. The scars of relegation last season don't seem to have healed very well at Millmoor, with several players having left and then Mick Harford being sacked after failing to get the side to perform this season. His replacement is Alan Knill, who I remember being a right royal pest to Pools as a player, in particular one game against us (probably in his Scunny days) when his heading ability was put to use as much in attack as in defence and even Brian Arrundale commented after the match on how tired he'd got of mentioning his name.

Although Knill's promotion to managership has sparked a mini revival, the Millers are still in deep trouble and without further improvements face a second successive relegation. Four points worse off than Pools, they are averaging barely over a goal a game. Recent form is none too good with five winless games since their home win over Yorkshire rivals Doncaster. They've drawn their last two (at home to Forest and away at Gillingham respectively) but are at the stage where it's wins that are important not draws.

On that front it's not exactly good news for Millers fans that their main striking threat this season has moved on. Deon Burton was leading scorer by some distance but has now gone to Sheffield Wednesday for a six figure sum. He'd made no secret of his desire to get away, handing in a transfer request before the window opened - but with a striker who scored 14 goals gone Rotherham look lightweight up front. The next highest scorers are Martin Butler, Will Hoskins and Paul McLaren with just four each. Knill has tried to expand his options by turning to Sheffield United, taking Paul Shaw on a free transfer and Jonathan Forte on loan.

In terms of team news for the Millers, Neil Cutler is still unavailable after suffering a broken jaw, while former Poolie Phil Gilchrist is hoping to be on the bench; Shaun Barker and Paul Hurst are expected to be fit despite picking up knocks last week, but Forte was apparently impressive coming off the bench and for the reserves this week and may make the starting eleven.

As far as Pools goes, it's hard to predict what Stepho will do. I don't expect him to tinker with tactics or formations particularly - he won't have had enough time to do that in any case and his role at the moment is one of caretaker rather than new boss. Some players will definately be missing: Llewellyn sits out the last game of his ban, Mickey Barron starts his, and Michael Nelson will also miss out after picking up his fifth booking last weekend. Tommy Butler remains on the sidelines, and there's still plenty of company there with Gavin Strachan joining the likes of James Brown, Joel Porter, Hugh Robertson and a host of recovering walking wounded who may or may not be ready for action such as Boyd, Robson and Tinkler.

Defence is therefore the big question. Darren Williams looks a certainty to come into the back four, possibly in the centre alongside the inexperienced Nash; Humphreys will probably continue on the left. Who comes in on the right is anybody's guess: one possibility would be to bring Ben Clark in, either at full back or in the centre to free Williams up, but then it's a question of who plays the midfield holding role with Strachan injured and Tinkler only just making his comeback. I suspect Clark will move back, and that then leaves vacancies in midfield. This is pure guesswork, but I wouldn't be surprised to see a midfield quartet of Sweeney, Bullock, Darrell Clarke and A.N. Other - maybe Stepho himself could pull the boots on again to provide some quality service to the forwards! Up front that would then allow Eifion Williams, our main goalscorer at the moment, to partner Pittman. I still don't think Boyd is ready for 90 minutes for the first team, although he could feature from the bench.

Can Pools take a much-needed win from this game then? It is possible, but with the defensive problems it won't be easy - though at the moment any game is far from easy. I'll go for a draw then, 1-1 with Eifion to cement his place as our top scorer.