Pools still looking for first home win after Vic slip-up
Adam Boyd - goal
By Charlie Summerbell
September 12 2009
Great away, dodgy at home, Hartlepool United are still waiting for their first Victoria Park win of the season after being held by a Wycombe Wanderers side beaten in their previous three away games. The 1-1 draw gave Pools their first home point of the season, but in front of only 3,326 fans that wasn’t what they’d all hoped for.
After the previous weekend’s great 3-0 win at Oldham, Pools were expected to chalk up their first home win without much trouble, but Wycombe were well organised at the back and proved tough to break down.
Typical for Pools, they build everybody up with their Oldham performance, then dumped them back down against Wycombe.
It got even harder for Pools early in the second half when Stuart Beavon punished the home team for poor marking in midfield and even worse covering at the back as he broke forward to give Wycombe the lead.
Things just weren’t working for Pools up front, and inside an hour James Brown and Denis Behan were replaced by Adam Boyd and Armann Bjornsson, making his Pools debut.
And after his hat trick for the reserves during the week, it was Boyd who grabbed a point when he volleyed in with 12 minutes left after Sam Collins headed a free-kick from another sub, Neil Austin, back across goal.
It was nowhere near as good a performance as at Oldham a week earlier, with Richie Jones and Antony Sweeney not stamping any authority on the game in midfield at all. Humping high balls forward didn’t pay off, and Behan and Brown looked as if they wouldn’t score if they stayed on all day.
Boyd, on the other hand, looks sharper and sharper and MUST be given a chance to start a game now.
Chris Turner has a big squad to play with – now’s his chance to show how much strength in depth he has got. He has the scope to make changes, and he needs to do it … starting at Colchester next Saturday. FOOTNOTE – headline on club website: “Wycombe made it difficult for us – Turner”.So what did we expect, like? For them to roll over and hand us the points?If you do not already have an account Click here to Register.