By Albatross
February 6 2005

No sooner is it announced that Neale Cooper has won an award than the club receives yet more recognition! Hartlepool United forward Adam Boyd has won Division 2's Powerade Player of the Month award for January. The award for Boyd comes after he scored four times (including once in the FA Cup) in January, and proved himself a key part of the Pools side that is now unbeaten in 12 games. It's the second time Boyd has captured this title - he also won the award in April last year.

It's a remarkable transformation for a player who, at this time last year, seemed to be on his way out of Hartlepool United. He returned to Pools in January 2004 after a two month spell at Boston and was promptly (and publicly) criticised by Neale Cooper for returning to the club overweight; he then went back to York Street and it seemed that a permanent deal would soon be on the cards.

Instead, we now have on our hands a striker that's becoming one of the most prolific in the lower divisions and seems to be constantly linked to other clubs. His 19 goals this season place him joint third in the divisional scoring stakes - only Leroy Lita and Stuart Elliott have more; and when you consider that he only broke back into the Pools side in the middle of March last year his record is truly phenomenal.

In the last 12 months, Boyd has hit the net no less than 32 times - once for Boston and the rest for Pools - in 54 appearances. Usually fans talk about needing a 20 goal a season striker - at his current rate, Boyd is looking more likely to hit 30 this season. It's hard to argue with that sort of record, and the fact that Boyd has signed a new deal at Pools is looking like even more of a plus as goal follows goal.

Will Boyd's goals see him playing in the Championship in the near future? It's looking increasingly possible that he could be there with Pools. The four sides above us all drew yesterday, and with games in hand and all of them with games against Pools (three of them at the Vic) yet to come, we are in the enviable position of being masters of our own destiny at the moment. We're fifth in Division 2 ("League 1" if you must), and looking not so much as the teams behind as those ahead. What a great time to be a Poolie!