By Albatross
February 26 2003

It's been another good month for Hartlepool United, as we edge closer and closer to promotion. It's time for a quick look around the division, and also a look ahead to a busy and crucial month. So much for the Manager of the Month Curse then! February has not only seen Pools go unbeaten, but we've extended our lead at the top. Back to back Manager of the Month awards look unlikely though as teams try to catch up on postponed games.

No team has managed a better points per game average than Pools; 10 from four games is an impressive return. So it's not an impossibility. However, Bournemouth have played six times this month for a return of 13 points, so Sean O'Driscoll may well get the award this time round.

Pools lead has been helped by the fact that our closest challengers, Rushden and Diamonds, have had a very poor month. Only playing three games, they managed just two points. To make things worse, those three games were all ones that they should have considered winnable: instead, they drew at Darlington and at home to Swansea, and lost at Southend.

This just goes to highlight how consistent Pools have been over the season. Against the teams in the bottom half, we have taken 44 of a possible 57 points - about three quarters. For comparison, Rushden have taken just under two thirds of the points available against the bottom half.

Three other teams matched Pools' tally of points this month, though all of them needed more gomes to do it in. Wrexham and Kidderminster both did it with five, while Swansea showed a big turnaround to take ten points from six games. From looking all but doomed just a month ago, they have come from five points adrift at the bottom to 21st place and a gap of a couple of points to the relegation slots. They may not have impressed at Pools last weekend, but they do at least now have a good chance of avoiding the drop.

Replacing the Swans at the bottom are Exeter, who seem to be going from bad to worse. They started the month with a draw, but then lost five on the spin to finish with the worst record of any team over the month. This has seen the dynamic duo of Neil McNab and Gary Bennett given their marching orders this week, and Gary Peters is the new man in possibly the most uncomfortable job in football. Peters was assistant to John Beck a couple of times, and took over at Preston after Beck left; he went on to guide North End to promotion from this division. However, with just 13 games left he has to work at lightning speed if the Grecians are to avoid the drop.

Elsewhere, it's also been a bad month for Hull and Macclesfield, who also only gained one point each. This has probably signalled the end of any hopes City had of making the playoffs - and given the impatience of both fans and board, you have to wonder if Peter Taylor is already living on borrowed time. Unless they do reasonably well for the rest of the season and then make a good start to next, he may be another Hull manager to measure his time at the club in months rather than years. For Macclesfield, things are rather more serious: one point from three games has seen them drop into the bottom three and they are now in real danger of relegation. Up until a couple of months ago, Macc were managing to stay ahead of the pack at the bottom even if not by much: however, with the sides below them starting to pick up points, they have found themselves going backwards.

Bristol Rovers currently occupy the second relegation slot, and it's shaping up to be a nailbiting season in the South-West. Last season they were saved fom the drop due to the ineptness of Halifax Town, but with two teams going down and it getting very tight at the bottom - just six points separate the bottom seven - if Gas are to rise up the table they need to start winning games rather than drawing them as they did three times in February.

Winning games is precisely what Boston and Rochdale have been doing. Both won three out of four this month. Rochdale have put any thoughts of relegation behind them and are now 14th; and while Boston may not have moved from 18th, their position looks a lot better than it did, with the gap between them and the relegation spots increasing from three to five points.

March promises to be a busy month for most teams, and Pools are no exception. Seven games this month, with three coming up in less than a week: Darlo on Saturday, Lincoln next Tuesday, and then a Friday Night Home Game with Bury that also acts as Mark Clemmit's Vic Park stopoff in the 92 Club - so make sure you listen to Five Live the following Monday Evening to see what he has to say about Pools. A week off, and then it's back into full swing with Southend, Wrexham, Bristol Rovers and Bournemouth before the end of the month. With 70 points already on the board, there's a real chance that Pools could have promotion - or even the title - sewn up before the start of April. Newell needs to keep the players focussed - and this is now make or break time for Pools.