Nelson or not, Pools need a win
Nelse - back at Pools?
By Charlie Summerbell
August 28 2009
A lot of people appear to be more interested in whether Michael Nelson plays than in the result when Hartlepool United play Norwich City at Victoria Park on Saturday. But Nelson is now history as far as Pools are concerned, and whether he plays or not and whether he has a blinder or a stinker, a Hartlepool win is vitally important.
Unbeaten away, Pools have lost all three of their home games so far this season, against Charlton and Bristol Rovers in League One and Burnley in the Carling Cup.
The bare statistics of the results alone don’t tell the full story, of course, because while Charlton looked in a class of their own, Pools deserved at least a draw against Rovers and did enough to spring a cup shock against Burnley.
Chris Turner and his squad have a right to be happy with the way things have gone so far, but hopefully they won’t be anywhere near satisfied because they have already dropped six home points, and there has to be an improvement on that.
Relegated last season, Norwich were one of the pre-season favourites to win League One, but after a good trolleying at home to Colchester on day one they became the first club to sack their manager and have since been trying to recover.
They are not Charlton and they are not Leeds … they are a run-of-the-mill League One team, and Pools can beat them, whether Nelson gets a recall after being dropped following the Colchester game or not.