Pools superb - but the result is still the same

For barely a minute at Norwich, Hartlepool United looked as if they might have found an answer to their current dip in form. But for the rest of the game they staged a graphic demonstration of why it’s time for them to worry more about the danger of the bottom of the League One table than the fantasy of the play-offs.

After creating a string of good chances and taking the lead against the League One leaders, thanks to Neil Austin’s second long-range goal in consecutive games, Pools crumbled to two quick goals and spent the rest of the game trying to fight back.
In front of 25,000 fans Pools were far from disgraced, but at the end of the game they knew they had missed out on the chance to send the crowds home moaning about Norwich’s table-topping home run coming to an end. Instead they have now won 11 on the trot and look a good bet for the title.
Pools played a lot of good football and surprised bopth the fans and a Norwich team that included former Poolie Michael Nelson, and Chris Turner rightly praised the players after the game, describing their performance as “superb”.
He said he had sent the team out looking for a win, rather than battling for a goalless draw, and added that the work-rate and commitment deserved the ovation the team got from the travelling fans at the end of the game.
The trouble is, of course, however well Pools played, the result is the same – they lost.
After spending much of the first half of the season dreaming about a p[possible push into the play-off zone, the tough January fixtures everybody feared have seen the side slump towards the danger zone, and the games in February hardly get any easier.
It’s Leeds United next Saturday, followed by Huddersfield a fortnight later, with Carlisle three days after that on Tuesday night, February 23. However, the good news is that all three of those games are at home, before February ends with a trip to Millwall.
Hopefully by then Pools’ prospects will have improved, because in March they start and end the month at home, but with three away games sandwiched in between.