By Albatross
May 17 2005

It's a big night on the Wirral - can Hartlepool United at last make it to a Playoff Final? We're two goals to the good - but Tranmere Rovers will be doing their best to turn that round at Prenton Park tonight. Here we go then: 90 minutes, and possibly extra time and penalties, to decide who will face Sheffield Wednesday in Cardiff for the chance to mix it with the likes of Southampton, Leeds, Wolves, Coventry and the others in Division 1.

Firstly a little travel advice: if you're travelling by car, the earlier you arrive the better. Tranmere's Car Park is only available to those who have purchased a ticket for it in advance, and with a residents parking scheme in place in the streets in the immediate vicinity of the ground you might find yourself with a little bit of a walk to the stadium. One alternative might be to park on the other side of the water in Liverpool City Centre and take the train across - Merseytravel run a "Soccerbus" from Hamilton Square station (and back again after the match) for about 50p. There's plenty of Car Parks in Liverpool itself, with one or two (including the Lord Nelson Street NCP right next to Lime Street Station) doing a special Night Rate if you arrive after 6pm.

Pools may go into this game as favourites with the bookies, but while I wouldn't swap our situation for Tranmere's, we can't take anything for granted just yet. An early goal for our opponents would throw everything back into the melting-pot; and Little will no doubt be doing everything he can to lift his troops.

There's not much need to talk about recent form or injury news - there isn't really anything to add to the preview for Friday's game. However, there are a few questions to be answered regarding team selection and tactics.

Rovers fans were not exactly inspired by the performance of their front men, although to be fair a lot of that was because Pools were working hard to shut off the service to Hume and Hall. Bringing in Dadi would seem to be one option; his extra physical presence up front gives them a different option. Having said that, Dadi has yet to impress against Pools with Nelson keeping him well under control last season.

In fact, a number of the home fans have found themselves frustrated by what have appeared at times to be Little's negative tactics; the hope for them is that being two goals behind will encourage him to be a little more adventurous. I doubt that we will see Tranny coming out all guns blazing from the off - they can't afford to push forward and leave gaps at the back - but they are certain to try and show a bit more ambition than on Friday, where they seemed pretty toothless up front. As well as bringing in Dadi, some are hoping that Dagnall - already scorer against Pools twice this season - may be brought in to partner him, with Hume dropping into the hole behind them. What Little will do remains to be seen - but given how ineffective the Hume/Hall combination was, don't be surprised to see at least one change for the home side.

Martin Scott looks to have resisted the temptation to try and pack the defence, and that has to be the correct move. I don't doubt that we'll look to keep things pretty tight, but sitting back and inviting our opponents onto us is asking for trouble and he knows it. I won't be surprised if he continues with Daly up front to act as a target and hold-up man; he certainly caused the Tranmere defence a few problems on Friday, and if we are coming under a lot of pressure the option to lump it forward to the big man and look for him to shield it until support arrives may be effective if not exactly pretty.

Ideally we want to see Pools performing in a similar way to Friday - harrying the Tranmere players, denying them space and time, and meanwhile looking to move forward with purpose when we have possession. While most Tranny fans seem to think their side didn't turn up, my view is more that we simply didn't allow them to play except for about 15 minutes after the break; if we continue to chase and harrass them as we did in the first leg they will find it nigh on impossible to put together cohesive moves, while we know that we have players capable of making the most of the minimum of space. And should we grab an early goal ourselves, it's quite possible that we could knock the stuffing out of them before they even have a chance to get going.

I think that there will be goals in his match, and the first one is likely to be crucial. If Pools grab it, then we may even go on to win by more; if Tranemre score early then they may relax a little and start playing more like the side that finished third in the league. However, if we can hold them out for half an hour or more, nerves may start afflicting them and the crowd....

I suppose I have to make a prediction, and so I'll go for a 1-1 draw: Daly to score in the first half, and Tranmere to finally pull one back close to the end. Then again, Pools are not known for taking the easy route - can we break that habit? For the sake of my fingernails, I hope so!