Cooper

By Mill House
November 8 2013

If there is a curse attached to winning Manager of the Month then at least it will only affect our somewhat dilute FA Cup ambitions ...

Colin Cooper is the SkyBet Manager of the Month and to compound the effects of the hoodoo Luke James is the SkyBet Player of the Month. Richly deserved by both.

But we are now into November and the first round of the Cup. Lady luck has given us a very winnable home tie against League One basement club Notts County who won't be fancying the trip even if they have a new player manager to impress.

Shaun Derry took over during the week with Greg Abbott the former Carlisle manager as his deputy.

There's always an effect when a new boss comes in , but Derry has little to play with and is likely to have to play former Pools favourite Gary Liddle at full back.

Derry is ineligible to play himself while top striker Danny Haynes is banned after being sent off last week, while on-loan forward Marcus Haber has been refused permission to play byStevenage.

Pools also have one or two issues with Burgess serving a ban but Compton has served his time and is likely to come into the reckoning where his pace will come in useful.

Pools : Flinders, Duckworth, Burgess, Austin, Holden, Franks, Walton, Dolan, Monkhouse, Poole, James. Subs (from) Compton Rodney, Richards, Collins,Sweeney, Walker.

Notts County : Bialkowski, Liddle, Leacock, Sheehan, Holt, Labadie, Boucaud, Tempest, Grealish, McGregor, Arquin.

Subs: Fotheringham, Smith, Campbell-Ryce, Thompson, Speiss, Coombs, Murray