Fabien Yantorno

By Charlie Summerbell
September 5 2010

Hartlepool United go through season after season producing a series of "if onlys" and "what might have beens" for their frustrated followers, and the live telly defeat at MK Dons was no exception. They tried to avoid defeat for most of the game before bursting into the sort of life that might have won it far too late.

After former Pools loanee Lewis Guy volleyed the Dons in front late on, the home team had skipper Dean Lewington sent off and were lucky to escape with a win intact after Pools battered them in the closing minutes.
Leon McSweeney was heading for goal when Lewington hauled him down, then Antony Sweeney was fouled deep in the box, only for the appeals to be turned down.
"I've yet to see anyone here who doesn't think it was a penalty - their manager included," frustrated Pools caretaker Mick Wadsworth told the Northern Echo. "They got lucky."
Wadsworth described the team's display as "magnificent", and while that might be something of an exaggeration, it certainly wasn't bad against a side that included former Pools striker Jermaine Easter and german veteran Dietmar Hamann.
With Joe Gamble and James Brown out injured, Pool might not have been too adventurous, but they were disciplined and determined, frustrating the home team before a sudden error gave sub Guy his chance.
But how often have Pools fans had to listen to managers say the team played well only to be beaten by a bad decision or bad luck?
It's been going on for years and the 200-plus fans who went to MK, despite the match being live on the telly, have heard it all before.
At other times, the same managers who blame bad luck will say that teams and players make their own luck in football, and it's about time Pools did a bit of that.
They do look a better team than last season and Wadsworth has got them playing to a system which promises progress.
But the old excuses go get boring after all these years.
Pools have been also-rans now for too long and avaoidable defeats like this are just as hard to take as hammerings like last week's against Sheffield Wednesday.