By Albatross
January 3 2006

Hartlepool United had a month to forget in December, despite the return to action of Mickey barron, Darrell Clarke and (briefly) Hugh Robertson. Can we get out of trouble - and then stay out of it? December was very much a case of "that was the month that wasn't" for Pools: after starting off with the embarrassment against Tamworth, our League form managed to get even worse with four defeats and a solitary victory from six games. Only two sides achieved fewer points - Port Vale, and MK Dons with three from six games and two from five respectively.

Manager of the Month hasn't been announced at the time of writing, but there's no shortage of contenders. Bristol City and Oldham both managed eleven points (Oldham from a game less), and another five sides made it into double figures from a varying number of games; Ronnie Moore may be the one to scoop the awad though after seeing his side go through the month unbeaten.

The Latics weren't the only side to avoid defeat, but Southend and Swindon both drew four out of six, while one of the more bizarre sequence of results was from Colchester, who clocked up six draws. In fact the Spireites must be close to some sort of record now - their run of consecutive draws now stands at eight!

Pools were in 16th place at month end, but worryingly the gap to the bottom four remained narrow - four points. Only eight points of the playoffs the optimists might say, but on current form it's hard to blame Pools fans for looking over their shoulders rather than aiming for the top. The Division remains tight, and with Swindon and Bristol City making recoveries no-one is adrift at the bottom; meanwhile, at the top inconsistent results meant that at year end the difference between top of the table and missing out on the playoffs was just five points. Overall, the difference between top and bottom of the table was just 20 points - an indication of how narrow the gap can be between being front-runners and relegation strugglers.

At times like this, what can make the difference for any side is form. A consistent run could lift any team up the table quickly; a poor one could see a plummet to the danger zone. Sadly for Pools, in recent weeks we've been doing the latter. Will January see us turn things around? With two long-distance away fixtures, much may depend on whether we can produce results at home against Tranmere and Blackpool.