By Albatross
February 15 2006

It was a battling performance from Hartlepool United to take a point at Tranmere Rovers last night; not pretty, but we got what we came for and have another clean sheet to boot - three in a row. Stepho has steadied the ship. I said at the start of the game that I'd settle for a point, and that's what Pools got on a fairly cold night on the Wirral; the performance was hardly one to thrill, but I'd say we got what we came for and what we deserved.

Stepho said after the game that he thought Pools were the better team, but I think that's pushing things a bit. We had some good moments, but for the most part it was the home side that had the possession. They failed to give Dimi too much work however, as Pools chased down every ball and Tranmere rarely threatened to break through.

Pools showed some good touches, and our best moments going forward came when we tried to play football rather than aiming for a long ball. Robson proved a handful on the left wing, Llewellyn did all right but tended to tuck in a bit too often which left us short of options on the other flank. Turnbull and Bullock got stuck in in the middle to good effect.

Up front, the combination of Boyd and Daly wasn't always effective. You couldn't fault Boyd's effort - he ran his socks off - but he still lacks the sharpness that made him such a threat last season. That's hardly surprising, after all he's played about 250 minutes of football (including for the reserves) since September, and it will return in time. Daly though was a different matter. When we signed him from Stockport their fans were amazed for the most part - last night we saw why, as all too often he failed to win headers, gave away needless fouls, and at times seemed to be strolling through the game. Was this really the same Jon Daly that worked so hard earlier in the season, making a right royal nuisance of himself to defences?

Pools defence worked like trojans all night, and for me Man of the Match was a toss-up between Nelson and Clark. Both were towers of strength, there were signs of a good understanding developing between them. Humphreys and Williams did what they needed to, with mostly solid and competent performances. Dimi had to make two or maybe three good stops, but to be honest Tranmere looked short on ideas and the resolute Pools unit didn't look in too much difficulty.

We didn't create too much either, but then again as the away side playing a team with a better record I didn't expect us to. In many ways I had a sort of Deja Vu feeling about last night in that it took me back to the end of the Chris Turner era when the plan away from home was to keep things tight and look to grab a goal if the opportunity arose. Negative tactics? Maybe, but we got an awful lot of 1-0 away wins that year that did a lot to get us promoted. I doubt we impressed Tranmere fans last night, but that wasn't the object of the exercise.

If that was Stepho's last game in charge for the moment, then his record is pretty good. Three games, five points and no goals conceded with a side in the bottom 4 when he took charge is decent form; he's steadied the ship and given us the belief that the team still has enough in it to avoid relegation without too much difficulty. It seems like it's been a long winter, but Poolies can face the Spring with a lot more hope.