MW - alarm bells

By Charlie Summerbell
January 23 2011

Consistency is a quality football all football managers search for – Hartlepool United have found it, but it’s not quite what boss Mick Wadsworth wanted. A good run of five consecutive wins has now been followed by five consecutive defeats – the sort of pattern that frustrates coaches, players and fans alike.

Saturday’s 4-0 defeat at Peterborough might not have been a fair reflection of the game as a whole because Pools more than held their own for an hour before three goals in six minutes killed them off after Peter Hartley went off feeling unwell early in the second half.
But the way they folded when the home team really turned the screw must ring the alarm bells for Wadsworth, even though he had skipper Sam Collins back in the defence after missing four games with a knee injury.
The big man’s presence showed for an hour as Pools held the home attack and threatened once or twice themselves, Andy Monkhouse heading over, Leon McSweeney having a shot saved and Antony Sweeney missing the target from just outside the six-yard box.
But three headers hit Pools hard as Craig Mackail-Smith put Posh in front, Tommy Rowe also scored from close-in and Lee Tomlin also struck.
McSweeney hit the woodwork when it no longer mattered, but James Wesolowski completed the scoring in the last minute.
“I thought we were controlling it reasonably well and defensively we’d matched them and nullified most of their threats,” Wadsworth told the club website.
“It was a real shock to all of us what happened. Losing Peter was a big issue.
“It has become a concern, not scoring goals so I will look at that – perhaps we’ll do something about it.”
Without a goal in 381 minutes, Pool are clearly suffering from the age-old problem of being unable to finish – not being able to call on the best form of James Brown and Adm Boyd doesn’t help.
But from a position of real strength on the fringe of the play-offs, Pools now find themselves back in mid-table as close to the danger zone as they are to the top six.
Tuesday night’s game at home to Notts County is vital.