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April
Pool
2 Exeter City 1. April 1st, who's bright idea was it to play football
on April Fools day? As it happens Pool didn't slip up and complete a double
over the Grecians after Exeter took the lead against the run of play in
the 51st minute. Pool failed to clear a corner and Exeter's player manager
Noel Blake drilled the ball in low and hard from 12 yards. Chris Turner
changed his midfield by replacing Lee Fitzpatrick with Paul Arnison. The
substitution was greeted with a mixed reaction as Fitzpatrick was having
a reasonable game in the middle of the park. Pool fans were looking for
a change up front. And they got it a couple of minutes later. Paul Beavers
replaced Chris Freestone who was failing to reproduce the form he showed
at Cheltenham with Pool. The two subs made an instant impact on the game
as Pool took control. A controlled build up from Pool finally saw the
ball arrive at the feet of Paul Arnison who had a yard of space and smashed
a 25 yard shot into the top left hand corner of the net. The Hartlepool
born ex-Magpie showed his delight at the goal with a 70 yard celebration
run. From the kick off Pool came again and it was Ian Clark who skipped
past three challenges and finished off his impression of Ryan Giggs with
a shot which gave the City keeper no chance. The Vic roared and the players
celebrated with a Clarkie 'pile on', which he eventually crawled out of
to share his joy with the Town End. Pools quick one two gave them control
of the game and the three points.
Pool were playing 45 minute football, not showing up in the first half,
then putting a bit of effort in during the second. It seemed to be working
at home, but not bearing fruit on the road. It was Pool's poor away form
that had stopped them from climbing the table anymore this season. The
home game with Rochdale was one of the best seen at Victoria Park for
many years. So it should have come as no surprise that the return game
was the opposite. Rochdale 2 Pool 0. Chris Turner give duo Paul
Beavers and Paul Arnison starting places for the first time since the
pair joined the club on transfer deadline day. Beavers replaced Chris
Freestone while Arnison replaced Lee Fitzpatrick in central midfield.
In the 13th minute Gary Strodder was caught out of defence and Tony Ford's
cross took a slight deflection leaving Jason Peake the simple task of
heading past Martin Hollund from six yards out. By the 55th minute Pool
were down to 10 men and 2-0 down. Gary Strodder received his second booking
of the game and played no further part for Pool. Tony Ford's cross from
a free kick was met cleanly by Clive Platt who planted his header past
Hollund in the Pool goal. Pool made hard going of this defeat and looked
a long way from a promotion side. Chris Turners search for a successful
front pair still showed no signs of bearing fruit and time was beginning
to run out.
Chris Turner made sure his players understood that they let him down,
themselves down and more importantly they let the fans after the poor
display at Spotland. So the home game with Lincoln City gave an early
opportunity to right a few wrongs. Pool 2 Lincoln City 0. Another
double for Pool as the Imps left Victoria Park empty handed. Graeme Lee
made a welcome return to the first team, just three weeks after suffering
an injury which looked likely to rule him out for much of what was left
of this season. It was Kevin Henderson who gave Pool a flying start. 6
minutes in, Paul Arnison crossed from the right, Hendo pulled away from
his marker and planted the ball firmly in the net with a superb header.
Pools second came on 39 minutes. Kevin Henderson won a free kick and received
four stitches in the back of his head into the bargain. From the resulting
free kick Tommy Miller collected the ball. After beating a couple of men
he coolly finished to give Pool a comfortable cushion and three more third
division points. The ITN jury missed the game as one jury member decided
to get married! on a match day, honestly!
It's was to be a make or break weekend for Pool. With two games over the
Easter Bank Holiday period. By Monday night the fate of this rollercoaster
of a season would be much clearer. First on the agenda was the visited
of Billy Dreaden's Mansfield Town to the Vic. Pool were hoping for a big
crowd and a comfortable win to set them up nicely for the derby game on
Easter Monday. Pool 1 Mansfield Town 0. Heavy rain during the night
and in the early morning in Hartlepool saw an 11:30am pitch inspection
at Victoria Park. The rain stopped and the surface was deemed playable.
Chris Turner replaced the suspended Gary Strodder with on loan Oldham
striker Paul Beavers, in the only change to the Pool team who beat Lincoln
2-0 at the Vic seven days earlier. The only goal of the game came in the
second half. Excellent work from Ian Clark on the left resulted in a threaded
ball to Kevin Henderson just inside the Stags box. Hendo stepped around
a defender and sent his shot into the far corner of the net, giving Bobby
Mimms little chance. The three points from yet another home win (16th
this season) saw Pool move up into 7th position and back amongst the play
off places. Mansfield looked like a side with little to play for. They
failed to end their goal drought (6 games including this defeat) and tested
Martin Hollund on only three occasions, all from long range.
Here we go again, round two of what is considered to be the most hotly
disputed derby of the third division. When derby talk is big news it's
Liverpool v Everton, Rangers v Celtic, Bristol City v Bristol Rovers all
big games. But although the crowds are not as large, the Darlington v
Hartlepool game is still up there with the best of them. This year the
second of the two games, looks like being one of the most important for
ten years. Darlington were hanging on to an automatic promotion spot on
goals difference only. Pool sat in the last play off spot by one point
only. All to play for. Darlington 1 Pool 1. Central defender Gary
Strodder returned to the starting line up after a one game suspension.
Graeme Lee moved back into the forward line and Paul Beavers dropped down
to the bench. Craig Midgley lost his place on the bench to Andy Dibble.
Midgley left the pitch injured during the win over Mansfield with what
early indications pointed to broken ribs. However x-rays showed no damage,
but Chris Turner chose not to risk Midgley. Pool roared on by the 750
travelling fans attacked the Tin Shed end in the first half, and settled
into the game quickly. As the typically tense first half came to a close
Pool made a vital break through. A corner was only half cleared and Paul
Arnison headed the ball back into the box, Kevin Henderson flicked it
into the path of Tommy Miller, who coolly toe poked it into the bottom
corner of the Darlo goal. Miller seemed to make a point of celebrating
in front of the Tin Shed! A goal from Tommy was inevitable, he'd had his
haircut again.
On the hour mark Darlington equalised. Substitute Jesper Hjorth shot on
the turn, Hollund did well to get a hand on the ball but Paul Heckingbottom
was on hand to slide the ball in the net from three yards out. In the
77th minute Marco Gabbiadini got the chance he had been waiting for. He
broke clear of the Pool defence and with only Hollund to beat managed
to smash his shot high and wide. The game ended 1-1 and the points were
shared between the bitter rivals. A point was vital for Pool in their
current race for a play off position. With Cheltenham losing to Rotherham
Pool now had a two point gap over 8th placed Robins. Whilst Darlington
might have felt hard done by after having the majority of position, the
final ball just was not there for the home team. Martin Hollund certainly
wasn't over worked. If a team can win games at home, anything picked up
on the road is a bonus. Pool have the best home record in the third division
having taken three points from Northampton, Peterborough, Barnet and of
course Darlington. Darlington were now out of the top three and may not
have seen the back of Pool just yet this season.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire for Chris Turner's team. Just
under 5000 turned out for the division three game of the day as Champions
elect Rotherham came to tie up their promotion and setup a last day title
decider with Swansea City. Pool 1 Rotherham 2. With a great atmosphere
inside the ground Pool got off to the worst possible start. In the 6th
minute Ian Clark was beaten by his man Sedgewick, Micky Barron came across
to cover for Clark but Sedgewick whipped the ball into the box leaving
Leo Fortune West with the easy task of heading past Martin Hollund in
the Pool goal. Pool quickly regained their composure and got back into
the game. Ian Clark made excellent progress down the left wing, got to
the goal line and after beating a defender he clipped the ball past Mike
Pollitt in the Millers goal. The second half started just like the first
for Pool. Four minutes after the restart Rotherham regained the lead.
A throw in from the right was headed on by Scott to Guy Branston who turned
and drilled his shot past Martin Hollund. The last home game of the season
then ended in defeat. The Poo fans left the ground watching Rotherham
celebrate their promotion to Division Two. For Pool the season would go
down to the last game at Hull. Cheltenham had won their penultimate game
and moved back above Pool. Torquay were now also in with a shout of the
last play off place. It would take a Pool win and draw's or defeat's for
both the Robins and Gulls for the season to be extended.
April left Pool fans working away on the calculators trying to see what
was needed at the home of the Tigers. Brian Little would be installed
as the manager of Hull in the run up to the game, so a difficult game
became even harder. 8th place with one game remaining, who would have
thought that Pool could come so far, remember that Tuesday night at Shrewsbury,
defeat and Pool were five points adrift at the bottom of the third division.
The story
continues.............May.
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