Preview: Southend Utd V Hartlepool Utd

THE BLUES

It's all been written, we have to move on.

Most scribes feel if we have any chance of the play offs we must now win all but maybe one of our home games with the remaining fixtures of February having to produce 12-13. No pressure then.

Comments about Revell being an upmarket Harry seem wide of the mark, I'm not sure the Prince would have been in the position to miss that chance anyway. Revell's smash and grab partnership with Barnard looks very promising and I hope Lee is fit to play at the weekend.

Mulgrew looks more than a good replacement for Hammell, better defensively, and tall, no problems there. More worries about Little Darryl, a bit of a 'mare last Saturday, must improve or Collis should return. In midfield I thought Mac and Bailey seemed a little tired, a touch behind the pace, well they have had a weeks rest now so no excuses! Let's get stuck in and get the three points that if we don't get here it's hard to see where we will get them back later on, enough home points have been dropped this season.

THE OPPOSITION

Sorry to hear about Bournemouth, that's two down ten points along with Luton. In the week that the Premiership announce Chelsea v Blackburn in South Korea supporters in the lower leagues can only look and laugh, or in the case of teams with dodgier finances, cry. However; Hartlepool.

In 17th place on 36 points, 6 points from the bottom four, they will not be too upset at the happenings on the south coast. First team news is that the Pool will be without 11-goal winger James Brown (knee) who is out for six weeks, funny I thought he was dead, and defender Ben Clark (thigh). Andy Monkhouse and Jamie McCunnie are both battling to be involved again while defender Sam Collins is set to continue in the side. Alan Thompson has returned to Leeds which is good news for anyone who remembers his free kick at Elland Road, bet Darryl does!

Still a 4-0 win at home to poor old Luton has cheered everyone up and here's a report from the local paper and the team that finished the game.

ALMOST £200m was splashed out throughout the divisions during the January transfer window. An outlay of £75,000 may seem peanuts in terms of the sums flying around the Premier League and even the top end of League One. But the cash that Hartlepool United coughed up for Sam Collins could prove priceless come the end of the season. Collins was the bedrock of Pools' best all-round performance since Tranmere in early December and ultimately one of the most comfortable of the season.

All the talk before the match had been about sections of the fans calling for Danny Wilson's head after a run of form which had seen Pools slip to just three points above the relegation zone. But if Pools continue to perform at this level, Wilson's men will once again be kicking off the season in League One.

The former Hull man dominated in the air, convincingly won every challenge and kept veteran Luton striker Paul Furlong as quiet as a slightly wheezy church mouse. A Luton side that looked like they already have a foot in League Two barely mustered a shot on target throughout the game as Pools reverted to the Fort Knox mentality which served them so well last season. Michael Nelson was back to his best safe in the knowledge that the whole of the Pools defence wasn't resting on his shoulders.
And the sight of two centre-halves dominating the game was enough to spark the rest of the team into life.

Luton started the game with a midfield five, but you wouldn't have known it as the Pools four found space, got the ball wide and sliced gaps through the visitors defence. There may have only been two arrivals at Victoria Park during the transfer window, but it has definitely been a case of quality over quantity. Collins' experience of higher level football is no match for fellow new boy Alan Thompson. The on-loan Leeds man may only be here for another two weeks but he showed his class as Wilson handed him a place on the left, with Willie Boland returning to the middle. Thompson has played the bulk of his career on the left-side of midfield and he is still quite capable of holding down a place there despite his 34 years. The ex-Celtic man has always relied on his passing ability rather than his pace and gave the midfield a much more solid look capped off with a wonder strike of a free-kick.

It also gave Boland the chance to push forward which led to him putting Joel Porter away to win a penalty for the first goal. Another midfielder in the side also shone, even though he was playing in the back four. Wilson's decision to put Tony Sweeney at right-back at Doncaster led some supporters to question whether the manager had lost the plot. But Sweeney showed the value of giving him a place in the back four, by constantly getting forward, by-passing James Brown and getting crosses in from the by-line. Teams with good quality attacking full-backs will always cause problems in modern-day football and Saturday's game was no different. Admittedly, Luton had no recognised left-sided player to keep Sweeney in check, but he certainly made the most of his opportunity. Likewise Ritchie Humphreys on the left was given the ball time and again in attacking positions by Thompson when he stepped five yards inside.

The width to Pools game led to chance after chance being created for the frontmen of Porter and Richard Barker who gave the dimunitive Luton defence a torrid time. Barker has often been at the brunt of criticism this year for his lack of pace, but a brace against Luton took his tally to 14 goals. The sceptics will argue that five of them have come from the spot, but you still have to tuck them away. When people look back at Alan Shearer's scoring record they won't question how many of them were penalties. Porter is starting to look sharp after a run in the side and Wilson will just be hoping he can keep the Aussie fit - especially with the sale of Ian Moore last week.

Pools always looked far and away the more dangerous of the two sides and it was only the form of Luton keeper Dean Brill that kept the scores goalless in the first 30 minutes. Brill has been courted by a host of Championship sides since his heroics for the Hatters in the FA Cup against Liverpool and he lived up to his reputation with three fine saves. First he finger-tipped a Brown scuffed shot around the post and then got a firm punch to a powerful Thompson free-kick from the D of the box. The best of the bunch though was a terrific leap to tip away Barker's looping header from a Sweeney cross after Pools had put together a flowing passage of play.

The deadlock was finally broken in the 29th minute when Porter played a one-two with Boland and experienced Luton defender Chris Perry brought down the Aussie from behind. Referee Neil Swarbrick pointed to the spot and Barker stepped up to send Brill the wrong way.

The only interest for Luton fans in the opening half was an injury to former Poolie Don Hutchison who limped off two minutes after the goal. Luton were desperate in the opening spell and the only chance they really had throughout the game came 10 minutes after the re-start. Jan Budtz, recalled for Arran Lee-Barrett, got nowhere near a corner and forced Nelson into a goalline clearance from Drew Talbot's off-balance effort. Talbot, who dastardly won Sheffield Wednesday's penalty in the play-off final at Cardiff, was pushed up front in the second half to form a 4-4-2. But the new formation was barely given a chance to exert any pressure before the game was put to bed in a two-minute spell.

Thompson scored his first goal for Pools with a strike that may not be equalled this season. He showed just why he has got a reputation as a deadball expert with a 30-yard free-kick that sailed into Brill's top corner.

Two minutes later David Foley, on for the injured James Brown, out-paced full-back Sol Davis, got to the by-line and knocked it back across the six-yard box for Porterwho stroked the ball into the net.

The win was rounded off 10 minutes later when Barker turned and got the slightest of touches to the ball, but it was still enough to divert it past the wrong-footed Brill.

All that was left was for Wilson to give Andy Monkhouse a 10-minute run out as he continued his comeback from a knee injury.

Pools now lie six points away from relegation trouble with a game in hand and with another handful of performances like this, they will ease to safety. The future doesn't look so bright for the financially-stricken Hatters.

Budtz 7, Sweeney 8, Nelson 8, Collins 9, Humphreys 7, Brown 7 (Foley 7) Liddle 7, Thompson 8 (Monkhouse), Boland 7 (McCunnie), Barker 8, Porter 8.

THE MATCHES

39 matches played: WON 19 DRAWN 9 LOST 11.

We have the upper hand here with a history that starts in the swinging sixties, Fri. Sep. 2 1966 at Roots Hall to be precise, a 2-0 win, Woodley and Firmani got the goals.

We've scored four goals twice against them, once at the home of football; Sep. 26, a 4-0 win, Gray, Pountney, Mercer and Otulakowski the scorers. While on Dec. 19 1998, 4-2 away, Houghton, Newman, Fitzpatrick and Conlon on this occasion. Of course we let in 4 the last time we played them a couple of weeks ago at their place, Jan. 22, somehow losing 3-4! A Hammell penalty, Gower and Black for the Blues. Some may remember a 1-5 defeat around this month six years ago, but I don't.

A double in 2005/06, the famous 2-1 Darryl penalty save win away on Dec. 28 05, Freddie and a Wayne Gray penalty. The last home game on March 25 06 saw 8,496 witness a 3-0 scoreline, Gower and a Freddie double this time around. A similar crowd is on the cards, a similar scoreline would be very welcome.

THE HISTORY

The amateur team West Hartlepool F.C. were formed in 1881, being the town's only club until the formation of United. In 1905, West Hartlepool won the F.A. Amateur Cup which at the time was considered second only to the F.A. Cup. In 1920 the football league decided to form a third division. However this was based almost entirely in the south as the new division was created by absorbing virtually the entire top division of the Southern League, with Grimsby Town the only northern representative. This was rectified the following season when a Third Division North was created with Hartlepool being one of the founder members.

Not much after that as they went up a few times, went down a few times, stayed down a lot. Danny Wilson being appointed manager on June 13, 2006, after relegating MK Dons who sacked him! Hartlepool had bounced back to League One in 2006/07 after the previous season's relegation, finishing second behind champions Walsall. This was the club's second promotion in four years. Sadly that manager was sacked for smacking one of his own players, somehow you just can't see Tilly doing that!

On Jan. 1 2007 Hartlepool United equalled the all-time Football League record of consecutive wins without conceding a goal by beating Mansfield Town 1-0. Sadly, it was promptly beaten by Stockport who got a 9th!

(Thanks to all the usual suspects for their help with this article).