By Albatross
January 28 2005

A piece of history? Hartlepool United have never gone beyond the FA Cup 4th Round; a win against Brentford will erase that record for good. It may not be a Glamour Tie, but it's still going to be a tough one; can we do in the cup what we failed to do in the league, and beat the Bees? Pools will travel down to Griffin Park feeling that they have a very good chance of reaching Round 5 for the first time ever, but our opponents will also go into the game with plenty of confidence.

Currently Brentford have the third best home record in the division, with an overall home record this season of P18 W12 D2 L4 - and one of those defeats was with an under-strength team in the LDV. Of course one victory was also over Pools, back in October; and although Pools could and possibly should have taken something from the game, that was part of a run of six consecutive home wins from the start of the season. The fact that the run then ended four days later with a defeat to lowly Blackpool was no consolation at all. Bradford City and Torquay are the only other teams to walk away with three points, while draws in the FA Cup with Bristol Rovers and in Tuesday night's league game with Barnsley are the only other blemishes on their record.

Currently just a place behind us in the league, recent form also sees them on a run of five games unbeaten in all competitions - and that includes an impressive 2-0 win at Luton in the 3rd round. In some ways that might be a relief to Martin Allen, as until then his side seemed determined to do things the hard way - they had needed replays to get past Bristol Rovers and then Hinckley United in the first two rounds.

Brentford's success seems to be built mainly on a strong defence - at home at least. Just 15 goals conceded in the same number of league games, plus one each in their two home FA Cup ties, is none too shabby - and has needed to be, as the Bees are not the most prolific side. 35 goals in 29 league games is lower than any other side in the top half, and their leading scorer - Deon Burton - has scored just seven times. Allen experimented with bringing in the 38 year old Steve Claridge shortly before Christmas to try and pep things up - but he has been farmed out on loan to Wycombe and is cup-tied in any case. Isaiah Rankin is the next best with six goals, John Salako (who attracted the ire of Poolies for his extravagant celebrations back in October) has five, but beyond that they may have to look to the likes of defender Sam Sodje from set pieces. Allen's search for the right blend in attack saw him start with Matt Harrold in midfield on Tuesday, only to replace him at half time with Steve Hunt.

Injuries have affected Brentford quite badly recently, resulting in Martin Allen having to experiment with different players and formations. This has lead to what Allen dubbed the "Conifer" formation - essentially leaving Burton up front, with two of five midfielders breaking quickly to join him when they attack. He was forced to change back to a more conventional 4-4-2 after half time in midweek though, with Barnsley having apparently worked out how to counter it - and presumably Coops will have had his spies at that game.

The good news for Pools is that our injury problems seem to be at their lowest level of the whole season. Barron came through the reserves win in midweek unscathed, and that only leaves Darrell Clarke on the injured list. Cooper may well find it hard to change the lineup after an impressive performance against Bristol City - but he may decide to move Ben Clark into a back three and go 5-3-2, particularly if Brentford are looking to pack the midfield. With Clark having played on the right of midfield recently as well, Coops also has the option to change systems without having to make substitutions - and that could prove to our advantage.

It's a tough game though, and if we are going to make the 5th Round we'll have to show the same sort of determination that has taken us to our current run of ten games unbeaten. Anything less and our opponents are in the sort of form to take advantage. I'm going for a 1-1 draw, Boyd to score, which means another replay - but I'd be happy to settle for bringing them back up to the Vic.