Pools frustrate fans again as more home points are dropped

Winning at home is again proving to be Hartlepool United’s handicap as they try to make headway in League One, and the goalless draw with Brentford at a rain-soaked Vic was typical. Chris Turner takes consolation from the fact that at least they didn’t lose, but it’s not much consolation really – the chances were there for Pools to win the game.

Pools were let down by their finishing in a game crying out for somebody who could stamp his authority on the opposition penalty area and do that little extra required to win the game.
Turner told the Northern Echo: “A draw was perhaps about right. We did better in the first half, but it’s not falling for us in the penalty box."
“We cancelled each other out and it looked like a nil-nil.
“It’s not easy in those conditions – all you ask for is the players to give their all and if they can’t win the game, then not to lose it.
“We had a few openings, but we are working hard on finishing and shooting. Sometimes you go through those periods when you can’t get in front and that’s what happened tonight.
“The goalkeeper made two excellent saves early on in tough conditions, but we have to get back to being hard to beat – there’s a positive there.
“We all get frustrated but it’s another point along the way.’’
Frustration was certainly the name of the game on Friday night, but it’s a word which is being applied to all too many Pools games this season.
They are better than they were last season, and their away record is a good one, but at the Vic they just don’t seem able to string things together and put in enough match-winning performances.
James Brown and Peter Hartley both passed pre-match fitness tests, and they returned to the side in two of the five changes made by Turner after the home flop against Grimsby in ther JPT on Tuesday night.
But apart from another solid performance from Sam Collins, and Gary Liddle alongside him, Pools didn’t have enough to break down a Brentford side which was nowhere near as good as the likes of Charlton, Norwich and Bristol Rovers, who have all won at the Vic this season.