HARTLEPOOL UNITED F.C. SOUTH EAST POOLIES

Match report: Southampton V Pools

 Pools visited St.Marys for possibly the last time for a few years on a beautiful sunny day but unfortunately the weather was about the only thing the 200 plus Poolie fans enjoyed.
 
In what I thought was an uninspired and negative move we played our usual 4-5-1 formation and in the end we were comfortably beaten, but I left the ground thinking "what if " ? For the first time in the last three seasons we lined up with three games to go without the shadow of relegation hanging over us and I thought that we might have a go as we had nothing to lose. In my view it was a perfect opportunity for Mick Wadsworth to say to the strikers "prove me wrong, show me what you can do". Instead he put the ever-willing Ritchie up front on a very warm day and tried to defend for 90 minutes against one of the most potent strike forces in the division.
 
Saints predictably took the initiative and poured forward in wave after wave of attacks and Pools were forced to defend desperately. Most of their best work was done down our right flank where Haslam kept showing the left footed Harding outside which he willingly accepted and caused us no end of problems. You don't have to be a qualified coach to know that in those circumstances you force him inside onto his weaker foot. If the player can't work it out for himself then the coaches should be letting him know.
 
Saints had one effort ruled out for offside and Scott Flinders also kept them at bay with a succession of good saves as the home team piled on the pressure. It was mainly one way traffic apart from the occasional moment at the other end but Pools never really threatened, particularly as the hard pressed midfield spent most of their time trying to contain the opposition. Sam Collins was booked during one defensive stand for a pretty innocuous tackle and this would have more serious consequences later.
 
Half time : Saints 0 Pools 0
 
Saints started the second half in the same fashion and got lucky after just 5 minutes when Sam Collins was adjudged to have fouled Lambert who went to ground in a very theatrical manner. A penalty was awarded and Collins dismissed, not surprising given that the referee had increasingly become more of a "homer" the longer the game went on. He had resisted the pressure from the home crowd until then but finally caved in when the opportunity presented itself. McSweeney and Mackay replaced Humphreys and Yantorno and the latter had a great chance to level the scores but Davies saved well and the danger was cleared.
 
Despite only having 10 men on the pitch Pools actually pushed forward more and created one or two half chances but almost inevitably Saints snatched a second goal 10 minutes from time. Another dubious free kick was given just outside the box and in a routine straight from the training ground Fonte crept in at the back post and headed past Flinders. Not quite sure how the defence failed to pick up the six foot plus centre back , maybe physical tiredness led to mental tiredness, nevertheless the damage was done. Pools played out the remaining time without too many more alarms but it was still another defeat on the road.
 
Full time : Saints 2 Pools 0
 
South East Poolies man of the match : Scott Flinders
 
Comment
 
I accept that the first duty of the manager/coach is to try and win the game in the manner he thinks best but I feel that this game was there to be won if we had been bolder. Despite a good start to the season on the road recent results have been poor and having secured our league status I firmly believe that most of the travelling support would have liked a different approach. A lot of Saints attacking play originates down the flanks and with 2 up front it would have a little easier to smother some of their creative ideas. You can't expect Ritchie to run around like a 20 year old in temperatures in the mid-seventies, he needed help. When we were reduced to 10 men we seemed to play with a bit more freedom, which brings me back to................. what if ?
 

Flicko