Pools lose friendly at ground with stupid name
Danny Wilson
By Clarence Rode
July 31 2008
Have Hartlepool played too many pre-season games? It’s a question some fans are asking after Danny Wilson’s team - even though a few players expected to start the season were rested - lost their latest friendly 1-0 at York City, where the name of the ground is so stupid that it’s not even going to get a mention here.
The team at York included a couple of triallists and was probably up to six names away from the side which will take on Colchester on the opening day of the season on August 9, and York are unbeaten in pre-season games against Bore-o, Barnsley and Leeds.
But they are still a non-League team (with a ground names after cat food, or is it a choccy bar?) and Wilson admitted after the match that Pools had been well below the form they’ve shown in other friendlies.
He described the performance as lack-lustre. Poor might have been more accurate.
Pools play Rotherham in their final pre-season game on Saturday, and will be hoping to play better than they did at York.
At least they’ll be playing somewhere with a proper name - the Don valley Stadium, because Millmoor is out of bounds while Rotherham sort out their financial situation.
POOLS (4-4-2): Budtz; McCunnie (sub 67 Forbes), Humphreys, Power, Collins, Clark (sub 54 Nelson), Rowell (sub 45 Foley), Sweeney, Barker (sub 45 Haber), Brown (sub 61 MaKay), Robson.