Joel Porter - brill goal

By Clarence Rode
September 24 2008

When are Hartlepool going to be the team that wins games in the last minute, instead of the one that loses them? It's happened countless times over the years, in league and cup games, and the latest episode in Pools' last-minute blues came at the end of a see-saw Carling Cup third round game at Leeds United's Elland Road.

Pools had played their part in a good match, taking an early lead through a header from Andy Monkhouse (left) againt his home-toiwn club, regaining it via a brilliant long-range goal from Joel Porter after Leeds had levelled, and then losing the match when an added-time left-wing cross from Andy Robinson went straight in.
It was a bad goal to give away and a bad way to lose a game in which Pools arguably did enough to earn a chance in extra-time.
But not many of the 1,000-plus travelling fans would have been too surprised - that sort of thing has happened so often before to Pools.
To make matters worse, Pools lost Antony Sweeney - argubaly their best player in recent games - after a nasty clash of heads in the second halkf. he was stretchered off, but it turns out he was not knoclked out, though he does have a badly swollen eye.
However, he could be fit for Saturday's tough League One game at Leicester, when Pools will need to play at least as well as they did at Elland Road to get anything from the game.