Murray - no great shakes

By Charlie Summerbell
October 19 2011

It's results that count, for Hartlepool United as much as any other football team, so after three defeats on the bounce it's vital that they get a League One result at Chesterfield on Saturday.

But that will depend on which Hartlepool United turns up for the game – the one that went through the first nine games unbeaten or the one that has lost those three on the trot.

Losing at home to Sheffield Wednesday was bad enough, being thumped 3-0 at Notts County live on the telly was worse, but  last weekend’s home 3-1 reverse at the hands of struggling Wycombe put the tin hat on it.

It’s not so much that Pools played badly, more that they made a few fatal mistakes at vital times and were punished for them.

But you have to wonder whether Paul Murray was speaking for all his team-mates when he told the Northern Echo after that game: "We weren't really any great shakes on that unbeaten run. But we still ground out results, that's what we've got to do now.

So if they were no great shakes during the unbeaten run, perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised they have started losing now?

Pools started the Wycombe game with a 3-5-2 formation, a change from the usual 4-4-2, and boss Mick Wadsworth said:  "We will look at it again. I've been here on more than one occasion and it's a mini crisis, not a major one and we are in good shape and in a good position in the table.

"But the problem is all the losses have come along together. If they had been interspersed between the games so far we would be happy.

"But when form goes from there to there then we have to be cautious and turn it around. It's about momentum and when you lose three it's something we have to address, but we will - they are a good bunch.''

It’s not the first time Wadsworth has said that, of course, but a team is only as good as its last result, and currently that means Pools aren’t up to much at all.

Third-bottom Chesterfield stand in their way as they try to turn it back round.