Wasteful Pools dumped out of Paints Trophy

If you don’t create chances, you won’t score goals, and if you don’t score goals you won’t win matches – you would think it would be fairly obvious to anybody who plays football, but it’s a lesson Hartlepool United appear to need to learn after they were dumped out of the Johnstone’s Paints Trophy by League two Grimsby at Victoria Park.

And to make the defeat feel worse, Grimsby are of course managed by ex-Pools boss Mike Newell.
Pools made changes, as most teams do for this competition, but there were still plenty of players with a lot of experience in the team for a game they should have walked.
The possession was there, but Pools tended to overdo things in and around the Grimsby area, wasting a lot of good ball by their own determination to be too elaborate.
But after Grimsby took an early lead with a long-range free-kick and then doubled that lead before half-time, Pools didn’t have what was needed to get back into the game, even after subs Adam Boyd and Denis Behan were sent on midway through the second half.
In front of a bigger crowd than might have been expected (1,675), Pools just never got going and in a game Chris Turner badly wanted to win.
But at least he has learned a few things about some of his fringe players.
Pools started with Colin Larkin and Armann Bjornsson up front, while Jonny Rowell was given a chance in midfield, where Leon McSweeney returned to the side.
The defence was unchanged, but still managed to concede two goals to a Grimsby team which has struggled all season, the first a 35-yard free-kick and the second scored by ex-Darlo striker Adam Proudlock.
Not a night to remember, but Pools have a chance to put things right when they play Brentford, who are alongside Pools in mid-table with one point more - another must-win game.