By Albatross
August 24 2004

Hartlepool United face Macclesfield Town in the Carling Cup First Round knowing they need to make a little bit of history if they are to reach the next round: we have never beaten the team from Moss Rose at the Vic. Can we do it at the seventh attempt? There's some muttering that Pools might field a more experimental lineup tonight, and if they do then Macclesfield will feel they have a very good chance of continuing their winning record at Victoria Park. Three wins and a draw have seen Macc at the right end of Division 3 for a change, and a side full of confidence and with a couple of players out to prove a point against Pools means that this is looking far from a walk in the park for a full strength Pools side, never mind a lineup of fringe players.

Starring up front for Macclesfield at the moment is Jon Parkin - already with 5 goals - and while his Pools career was brief in the extreme, he would no doubt love to show us what we missed out on; meanwhile Tommy Widdrington has been appointed Club Captain and has even better reason to want to shine at the Vic after his release from the club just over 12 months ago. With the experienced Tony Barrass having also played for Pools, there's more than the odd link between the two clubs....

Matt Carragher and Steve Payne look set to miss out for Macc, while Alan Fettis is hoping to be fit to continue in goal.

Pools meanwhile are facing a mini injury crisis that means there will have to be at least one or two changes tonight. Mickey Barron is still missing as he recovers from his hernia op, and Jack Ross won't take any part tonight after the hamstring injury he suffered on Saturday. Add in Darrell Clarke's knee surgery, and we are looking very light on the right side. There aren't too many options for Cooper either, Westie having moved across on Saturday is one and the other is possibly Darren Craddock, who did OK there towards the end of last season. Beyond that we're looking at hopefully unlikely scenarios such as Williams or maybe Betsy dropping back - both of which could rob us of an option going forward.

I have a feeling that Cooper will indeed decide to switch things around tonight, and we will see a mixture of regulars and not so regulars. Strachan may well get his first start of the season, Istead could come in on the right, and there may be others on the bench such as Appleby and McCann hoping for an opportunity to impress. However I do expect two from Williams, Boyd, Betsy and Porter to start despite (or possibly because) of some missed chances on Saturday.

Prediction time then, and I'm afraid that I can't feel very optimistic about it. We're certainly going to have to shuffle things around - Ross's injury will see to that - and if we do take the opportunity to blood a few fringe players against a side that is full of form and confidence then it's going to take some good performances all round to come out on top. Add in the fact that Macclesfield seem to have the Voodoo Sign over us on our own turf - two draws in six games at the Vic the best we have done - and that Widdrington especially will be desperate to put one over on us, and the outlook is a bit gloomy. Pools to lose 2-1 then, with a goal from Tony Sweeney our only consolation.