Michael Nelson - back

By Clarence Rode
February 21 2008

After scoring 11 goals in winning their last three home games, Hartlepool could do with more of the same when they play Northampton at Victoria Park on Friday night. There was an away improvement in last weekend’s 1-1 draw at Cheltenham, and manager Danny Wilson will be keen for his team to continue their recent revival. Graeme Lee is expected to make his home debut after returning to Pools on loan from Doncaster. He put in an impressive performance alongside Gary Liddle (right), but the latter will probably return to midfield to allow Michael Nelson to come back into the side after his one-match suspension.
Sam Collins is halfway through his unjust four-match suspension, James Brown is still sidelined with his knee injury and Ben Clark hasn’t fully recovered from his thigh strain.
Against a Northampton side who have three more points than Pools total of 40, but have played a game more, Wilson is slowly getting more scope when he comes to picking his team, with Andy Monkhouse pressing for a place in the starting line-up, as is Boro striker Tom Craddock, who went on as sub at Cheltenham after signing on loan and showed a lot of promise in his short stint on the pitch.
Hopefully, he won’t take the place of Joel Porter, who scored a cracker of a goal at Cheltenham, while top scorer Richard Barker appears to have at last silenced his critics.
If Pools can chalk up another good win – hopefully without the nerves that featured the Port Vale win – some of Wilson’s critics might be silenced as well.