By Albatross
February 26 2005

Woeful. Hartlepool United were well below their best today, and went down 1-0 to bottom side Stockport County. County worked hard and deserved their win; but we expect more of Pools than this now. Just not good enough! Arriving late, I made my way into Edgeley Park and initially wondered if I'd walked in through the wrong entrance; but no, it turned out we were sharing the stand with some of the Home Fans (and their drum) with no more segregation than a few empty rows of seats, some with coloured mesh on them, and a couple of stewards on the walkway. I'm sure any HUFC Board Members would wish we could have their local authorities - ours seem paranoid about even having a movable barrier at the Vic! Less well done though were the pillars - as a late arrivee, I found myself with Pillar No. & in the Grey Zone neatly blocking the view of the goal we were attacking in the first half. Pools lined up unchanged as expected.

Stockport were first to show, with the dangerous looking Harpal Singh crossing for Feeney to put over the bar from close range. Dimi was certainly the busier of the two keepers in the opening minutes, making a couple of good takes. Pools had their first chance on 5 minutes; Brackstone made progress down the left and crossed in for Sweeney, whose headed was comfortably saved by Spencer.

The Ref didn't take long to renew his poor relationship with the Poolies; on 9 minutes Eifion Williams went down on the edge of our box, and the Ref completely failed to stop play until Pools had already regained possession and were about to put the ball out of play in any case.

Neither side was exactly producing much flowing football, but Porter showed his skills on 16 minutes, displaying some good control before playing the ball into central midfield for Williams to advance onto. Robertson chopped Willo down 35 yards out, Brackstone's set piece was deflected off the wall for a corner. Strachan put in a decent cross from the right that was scrambled behind, however his second effort was nowhere near as good; Sweeney did try and get an effort in on goal, but as he was facing the wrong way it was no surprise that the attempt looped well over the bar.

Disaster struck just two minutes later. Boyd played a lazy ball that sold Strachan well short, the intercepted pass was swung out wide to the left where Harpal Singh used his pace to great effect before swinging over a deep cross that FEENEY met at the back post, heading in across goal.

Pools were struggling to get back into the match, but Brackstone and Humphreys combined well on the left flank on 20 minutes, Humphreys playing in Joel Porter just on the edge of the box; Porter carried the ball a few paces before shooting with his right foot. It wasn't the most powerful shot though, and Spencer was just able to hang onto it at the near post. A minute later, "Mr Nasty" Ref Mason denied what had looked to be a clear penalty when Porter was shoved in the back while going up for a lofted ball in the area. Soon after a long throw from Humphreys on the right gave Boyd a chance to get the ball into the area, and he appealed for a handball that was never going to be given - to be fair the Ref would have needed to have X-Ray vision as Boyd was about the only person in the ground that could see what was going on.

Pools were continuing to look for a way through, and almost did so on 23 minutes. Spencer failed to hold onto a Humphreys cross that was right behind the aforementioned pillar, only for Williams to hurry his shot and blast it well wide with the goal gaping.

Singh was continuing to look dangerous on the left, making a dangerous run on 24 minutes that Nelson made a great tackle to stop; he then advanced and won a free kick that Porter received in the box but couldn't get a shot in from. Singh was in action again two minutes later, with another marauding run that lead to a shot from Chris Armstrong that flashed wide of the far post. Singh then had an opportunity to swing in a corner after Clark had played the ball behind off the corner flag, but Dimi claimed comfortably.

Pools put a decent attack together on 29 minutes, with Porter playing the ball through to Boyd on the left; he held onto the ball well before laying it off for Humphreys who tried a curler with his right foot that went comfortably over the bar.

Some Stockport fans thought they'd gone 2-0 up on 34 minutes; Hurst tried a strike from at least 30 yards after picking up the ball in midfield, but it whistled past the post before hitting the stanchion. Eifion Williams became the first player booked shortly after; he went in late on the advancing Singh, and couldn't really have many complaints about the decision. Singh was continuing to look dangerous on the ball, and the last thing we needed to do was hand the ball to him on a plate; however, on 42 minutes that's precisely what we did, with disasterous consequences. Boyd tried a cross-field ball that was always going to drop short of Williams, Singh latched onto it and was away; as he advanced towards the edge of the box, Ross dived in on him and immediately looked to be in agony and holding his ankle. There was a long delay as first the Physio and then a Stretcher was called for, and Ross departed to be replaced by Mickey Barron. Ross was booked to add insult to injury, but the injury looked serious - some were muttering about a broken ankle on the way out of the ground, although the Pools Website seems to be saying it may be ligament damage. The free kick when eventually taken was low and well to the left of the goal. After three minutes added time (mostly for the injury to Ross) the ref brought proceedings to a close.

It had been a poor first half from Pools, who didn't look up for it at all. Matters weren't helped by the awful condition of the pitch - an example of why Football and Rugby Union shouldn't share a stadium if ever there was one - but we hadn't looked like adapting to the conditions at all. Passes that needed to be played a touch more crisply were falling well short of the intended man, and our final ball was sadly lacking as well.

Barron and Dimi came out early for the second half - Mickey appeared to be completing his warm-up - with Pools due to attack the empty "Scoreboard End". At least now the post would be less of a problem....

Pools came out looking for an equaliser, but it was Stockport that went closest after the restart; a cross in from the right was watched by Dimi and Barron... and watched... and then, as danger threatened, put behind for a corner by Mickey who possibly had expected the big Keeper to come and collect it. Shortly after Mark Robertson needed some treatment after going down after going for a 50-50 ball. Goodwin put in a dangerous low cross just after play got underway again, but no-one could connect and Pools got the goal kick.

Pools started to put some better play together though, and on 52 minutes a throw-in on the right was worked to Boyd just outside the area, who turned well and then shot very poorly with his left foot, the ball never looking like it might go in. However Pools were getting more of the play now, and on 11 minutes Boyd managed to play Eifion through wide on the right; the Welshman's cross was headed back across goal at the far post where Humphreys saw his shot blocked away and then Pools eventually won a corner when the ball came back in and Sweeney's shot was blocked behind.

With Pools looking short on idea, Cooper decided to mix things up a bit on 57 minutes, with Strachan making way for Daly, who received - unsurprisingly - a less than warm welcome from the home fans. A couple of minutes later Stockport made a change, Jackman replacing the dangerous Singh.

Pools attacked down the left on 59 minutes with Humphreys doing well, and forced a corner. That was played long and then headed back across where Daly tried to stab home only to see his effort deflected wide. The subsequent corner was cleared and collected by Brackstone in midfield, who was then badly fouled by Briggs who unsurprisingly made his way into the Ref's notebook. Brackstone took the set piece, playing it to Boyd on the edge of the area whe dwelt on the ball too long and saw his shot easily blocked to set Stockport off on a quick attack that Pools cleared without too much trouble - but we were beginning to look increasingly desperate.

On 63 minutes came another controversial decision (or rather indecision) from Mr. Mason. Humphreys twisted and turned on the left and then crossed in - and it looked like a clear handball from a home defender. "Penalty" shouted fans and players alike; "Play on" waved the ref, indicating a rather strange grasp of anatomy by claiming that it hit the player on the leg. The Ref, who had been booed back onto the pitch by the away fans after the break, seemed intent on avoiding giving us anything if he could help it....

Pools continued to attack, but with a packed defence seemed to lack the guile to do anything about it. Porter was forced to try an effort from out wide that looped well over the bar; Daly almost got onto the end of a Boyd cross from the right but was beaten to the punch by Spencer; and Williams looked to be in the clear on the right but couldn't cut inside. Meanwhile Stockport looked threatening on the break, and the Ref had remembered where he thought hands and arms were as in the space of two minutes he gave handball decisions against Porter and Humphreys - the former when it had clearly been taken on the chest.

Time was running out, and Humphreys - who was by now operating more centrally in an effort to unlock the stubborn home defence - got a cross in from the right for Daly to get a head to, only for the former Hatters man to tamely put his header where the keeper could grab it. A poor shot from Clark on 86 minute pretty well summed up Pools day - he dribbled the ball weakly behind, well wide of the goal. Another weak effort from Eifion after Daly had set him on his way only confirmed that.

Pools did almost grab something in the four minutes of added time, but it would to be honest have been undeserved. First of all we had possibly our best effort of the match on 92 minutes, when the ball was played across from the right to Humphreys in the centre; he had time to set himself, and was unfortunate to see a cracking effort from 20 yards hit the post and bounce away. Pools continued to press, with the ball at one point seeming to be pinballing about in the Stockport penalty area with shots blocked galore - but no-one could put the ball in the net, and the final whistle went to leave the Stockport fans celebrating and the Pools fans wondering how on earth this could be the same team that demolished Brentford in midweek.

I tend to be one to look for positives, but there's very little to take from this match. It's tempting to blame the Ref (who was poor again) or the pitch (likewise) - but the fact of the matter is that we simply failed to do the basics, and were overcome by a hard-working Stockport side that while limited, never stopped trying and were good value for their three points. Had we matched their commitment and work-rate, we would almost certainly have been too much for them; but instead we looked jaded, lacked the sharpness that we had shown in other games recently, and never looked capable of unlocking a well-organised home defence. There's very few if any of the players that can take much credit from that performance, and while a few years ago that might have been met with a shrug of indifference from many we're used to much better now. We simply weren't good enough, and Cooper will no doubt be having some harsh words with the players in the coming week. Can we pick ourselves up in time for the next match? I hope so - because the team owe the decent turnout of away fans one after that performance. £19 to get in the ground, and a 19p performance is just not good enough.