Hawley's second

By Charlie Summerbell
October 9 2011

It's to be hoped Hartlepool United's results don't follow patterns established in the last two months after their televised 3-0 defeat at Notts County, where they basically never had a sniff

Unbeaten in their first nine League One games of the season, Pools have now lost their last two – in August there were four consecutive draws and in October there were four consecutive wins.

Four defeats on the bounce would knock the stuffing out of their useful start to the season.

Pools lost by the same score at Meadow Lane last season, and that heralded the start of a poor run of results, so Mick Wadsworth will be desperately hoping history doesn’t repeat itself.

Karl Hawley scored either side of half-time to give County a match-winning lead, and sub Cristian Montano scored from long-range in added time to send Pools home well beaten.

Unlike in their first defeat of the season last weekend, when they deserved something from the home game against Sheffield Wednesday, Pools were well below par in front of the Sky TV cameras.

It means that while County are no sixth top, Pools slump to ninth – a position they might have been happy with before the season started, but one which now looks disappointing after that early unbeaten run.

Third bottom Wycombe Wanderers visit the Vic next weekend, and it’s important Pools bounce back.