By Charlie Summerbell
September 30 2012

In was already a cause for acute concern, but now Hartlepool United's League One situation has turned into a full-blown, major crisis.

Losing 3-1 at fellow-strugglers Colchester after a great start to the game has dumped Pools into the bottom four, and if they continue to play as badly in defence as they did in this game, the prospects of them climbing out are dim.

Neale Cooper says his usual happy demeanour has been replaced by a boot camp philosophy in training, and the signs are that the switch hasn’t worked.

On loan Craig Lynch gave them the ideal start when he scored a great solo goal early on and when Antony Sweeney had a header cleared off the line, it all looked so rosy.

But Gavin Massey levelled for Colchester and minutes later an awful back-header from Peter Hartley gave Jabo Ibehre a simple chance to earn the home team the lead.

With the back four playing like a sieve, Scott Flinders made a string of good second-half saves to keep his team in it, but when Sam Collins and Hartley left each other to go for a cross, Ibehre pounced to make it safe.

Cooper said after the game that he had been pleased with his team’s start, but he told the club website: “The shape of the team was good, we set out stall out and we matched them. We had two or three really good chances, a really good goal, a header cleared off the line and it was looking great.

“But then it was the same old story, a gift goal straight through the middle again and it’s one each. It’s just so frustrating, individual mistakes again. The only thing I can do now is change the personnel because they’re not doing it.”

He has, of course, already made a number of changes, including playing people out of position, and if you look at the table you’ll see how successful that has been.

Pools are now second bottom, and on this form it’s about where they deserve to be.

One of the major problems is that Steve Howard is the only experienced out-and-out forward in the squad, and he isn’t scoring goals.

On Tuesday night, Danny Wilson returns to the Vic with his Sheffield United team who haven’t made the sort of start he would have liked to another season in League One. But they are long way better off for Pools and will be favourites to win.