Season of goodwill - so Pools throw it away again

For their next “trick”, Hartlepool United will probably throw away a three-goal lead. ASfter all, they’ve wasted enough games when they were leading 1-0, and now they’ve done it with a two-goal lead. We know it’s the season of goodwill and all that, but Pools are taking it to ridiculous levels.

But it’s the pantomime season, after all, and nothing Pools decide to do when they are a match-winning position should surprise us now.
Two up at half-time at Southend, Pools hadn’t played particularly well, but a two-goal lead is a two-goal lead and they should have been able to put up more of a fight as they attempted to hang on.
And to make the afternoon a lot worse, sub Ben Clark was sent off for two bookings to make a right mess of his latest comeback from injury.
Chris Turner says he wasn’t happy with the first-half performance, despite that lead, and he told the players so at half-time.
But whatever he said, you can bet his final words as the team went out for the second half went along the lines of: “Keep it tight early on, because they’ll be coming at you to try to get back into the game.”
Did Pools listen?
Did they heck as like.
After Adam Boyd’s good finish and Andy Monkhouse’s shot was deflected for an own goal, Pools decided to be charitable and three goals in 26 minutes turned the game on its head.
If a team earns points without playing well, particularly away from home, there’s a good chance they are on to something.
But when a team makes a habit of throwing away a lead – 1-0, 2-0, it doesn’t matter – there’s a good chance something serious is missing.
Like bottle, for instance.
Turner, who will be without Neil Austin again next weekend after he missed the Southend trip through injury, said Pools got what they deserved at Roots Hall – nowt.
Now he’s asking his players to look at their individual performances and ask if they did enough – if they are being honest, the majority will answer “no”.
So instead of sitting comfortably in the top half of the table after a good away win, Pools are still stuck in the middle and that means they are under extra pressure to perform when Yeovil – who performed well in a 3-3 home draw with Norwich on Saturday – visit the Vic next weekend.