Pools took the 3 points today to move into second

By Simian
August 26 2002

Hartlepool today destroyed Hull City without getting into top gear. Goals from Effion Williams and Gordon Watson securing the points. Get used to hearing that last bit, it will be the recurring theme of the season. This win takes us into second place, a point behind Rushden & Diamonds.

With the odd exception Hull were anoynmous. This was the team that pre-season, was going to blow away the rest of the league very quickly and run away with the championship. Well it's early days but they are now third bottom. By the way something struck me today. This was a team that made extensive changes during the summer and brought in some quality players. Unfortunately for Hull they don't seem to have gelled yet and Hull are plummeting towards the bottom. Sound familiar?

Anyway, Chris Turner said on the official site; "I thought we played well throughout the game and dominated the game from the start. I said after the Torquay game that it would take us ten or twelve games to get into our rhythm, but I thought we were showing signs towards that today."

Hard to disagree. A solid if generally unspectacular performance with the odd flash of brilliance. Make no mistake, Pools were by far the better team, but this was not the beautiful flowing football that we witnessed late last season. That said it was very effective. 4 goals from Pools (2 disallowed) saw a final score of Hartlepool 2 Hull City 0.

The first goal came after that rarest of moments, a Watson cross. Williams scored at the second attempt whilst lying on the floor.

Hull made their only real attack of the game shortly after half time which ended with last seasons top scorer for Hull, Gary Alexander missing a chance that a blind man on a galloping horse would have converted.

After an hour, Gordon Watson gave us all breathing space with a poachers goal from a foot or two out and from then on it was the Adam Boyd show. Nice to see the Widderman get a few minutes of competitive football under his belt. I have a feeling that we're going to need him during the coming months.

4 points from a bank holiday weekend isn't a bad return. Particularly when a trip to Torquat is included. Historically not a happy hunting ground. This leaves us 2nd in the table on 10 points, an average of 2 per game. Should we keep that up we'll end up on 92 points. That'd do eh!