Mick W - angry

By Charlie Summerbell
August 31 2011

Relations between Mick Wadsworth and hgis Hartlepool United players have been all sweetness and light so far this season ... until now. Pools were never going to remain unbeaten all season, but the manner of their first normal time defeat of the season left the boss seething.   

It’s not the end of the world to go out of the Johnstone’s paint Trophy at the first hurdle, but playing badly in defeat is not exactly what Wadssworth was looking for.

He told anybody who cared to listen after the 2-0 defeat: “It was rubbish, absolutely rubbish, incomprehensibly rubbish.

“The second half was just rubbish. The first half there was nothing between the two teams. But the goals were terrible.

"We have spoken about it to the players already. Players were not in the areas they were supposed to be. Even then we had golden chances from set plays and we wasted them. It was just rubbish.

"I was disappointed with some of the young lads, they need to grow up quickly.

"We have still got a lot of players to come back in to the team and I'm sure we will see a different outfit all together."

Wadsworth had made just two changes from the team that won well at Rochdale three days earlier, but the performance was nothing like. One of the changes saw Saturday’s two-goal match-winner James Poole start the game, but the team performance was bad and two quickfire goals from Bobby Grant in the second half gave Scunny a deserved win.

Hopefully the improvement the boss has predicted will come on Saturday, when Pools are at home to Exeter at the start of a four-game month in which Pools play on Saturdays only and have a chance to take things ateady before October gets a bit hectic.