By Albatross
December 7 2003

We've finally broken that live TV Hoodoo and deservedly beaten Burton Albion 1-0 in the FA Cup; the reward for a competent if hardly spectacular performance is an away tie against our local neighbours Sunderland. Time for Jackie Honour to pull his boots back on.... It's maybe not a Premiership team, but Sunderland away is not a bad tie as far as Pools are concerned. Financially, the interested generated by this derby fixture is likely to attract a big crowd to the Stadium of Light, and although on paper Pools don't have much of a chance, the minds of older Poolies will be going back to a certain Sherpa Vans Trophy tie in 1988, Brian Honour scoring direct from a corner, and Manager Denis Smith's famous "stigma" comment. It's a stigma that Pools would be quite happy to heap onto Mick McCarthy, and it's by no means an impossible task considering Sunderland are in variable form in Division 1.

There can be little doubt that Pools deserved the victory against Burton, who especially in the first half seemed keen to concentrate on keeping a clean sheet to the exclusion of attacking moves. Although they did offer more going forward in the second half, they rarely looked like penetrating the partnership of Nelson and Westwood.

Burton fans will no doubt be muttering about offside for Joel Porter's goal, but with Lawro and the rest of the studio team saying otherwise they can really complain about very little; Pools meanwhile had Eifion Williams booked for diving when everyone with the exception of Neil Warnock thought we should have had a penalty. The Ref was unsurprisingly inconsistent, booking young Jack Wilkinson for kicking the ball away late in the second half when any number of similar offences had gone unpunished earlier in the game.

So Pools have finally broken the live TV hoodoo, and have a lucrative third round tie to look forward to; this will most likely take place on Saturday January 3rd, meaning the scheduled fixture at Port Vale will have to be moved.

For the moment though, victory and a tie at Sunderland are all that most Poolies will be thinking about - time to start the Christmas celebration a little early!