No more excuses Pools - it's time for some victories

Is Hartlepool boss Chris Turner as fed up of saying that, despite results, Hartlepool United will stay out of League One trouble this season as some of the fans are of hearing him say it? Probably not, but it’s to be hoped he doesn’t need to be offering the “we played well without reward” excuse when Southend visit Victoria Park this weekend.

He was at it again after last weekend’s 1-0 defeat at Millwall, and in many respects he was right because Pools fell behind to a cruel deflected goal early in the game and from then until the end had enough of the match to suggest they could have had a result.
But it’s reached the stage now where excuses and might-have-beens mean nothing – results are needed, and anything other than a win against Southend will be unacceptable.

In their last home game they managed a win, though the 4-1 scoreline against Carlisle did flatter them a little.
Now, it doesn’t matter what the scoreline is – as long as it’s a win.

Southend are one of only seven teams below Pools, fifth bottom with 32 points – just three less than Pools – and they will be determined to get the result that could close the gap, or at least make sure it doesn’t increase in size.
Turner told the Northern Echo: “The next 13 games are going to be crucial for us. The way we played against Carlisle last week and in the second-half against Millwall, we will be OK.
“We are growing as a team. We showed there is a lot of ability and a lot of belief and good football within us. All that was missing was an equalising goal and if we had got that nobody in the stadium could have thought we were lucky or didn’t deserve it.

“We totally outplayed Bristol Rovers away from home the other week. This was a different sort of game on a difficult pitch.
“We can stand up to it. If we had lost 4-0 people would have thought we were a pretty side who can’t compete, but we can compete.’’
So let’s hope they do that in those remaining 13 games – it’s more than a quarter of the season, so there is plenty of time, but matches come thick and fast at this stage of the campaign and beating Southend is absolutely vital.