Don't let the revival slow down, Pools

What a difference a week can make. Just ask Hartlepool United - at the end of September they were down in the dumps wondering what to do to turn their season round after being hammered 4-0 at home by Carlisle. Now, three wins in eight days later, they are preparing for the weekend visit to Leyton Orient confident they can get another good away result.

Just a couple of weeks after their season looked doomed, Pools have moved into a semi-comfortable mid-table position and caretaker/stand-in/acting/temporary/stop-gap manager Mick Wadsworth is right to believe a corner just might have been turned.
And it’s all happened at a time when players like Tony Sweeney, James Brown, Scott Flinders and Richie Humphreys are injured and others are struggling to find their best form.
With only one defeat and only one goal conceded in five away games, Pools have one of the best away records in League One, while second-bottom Orient are enduring a difficult start to the season which, unlike Pools, is not showing many signs of getting any better.
The Orient trip is followed by a home game against Bristol Rovers, who are level with Pools in mid-table, before another long trip, this time to Dagenham, who are also having a tough time and are rooted in the bottom four.
With their track record this season and over the years, nobody at Pools should ever get too confident and nothing can be taken for granted in any of these games, but they do offer a chance to make up for that poor start and get established at least as a strong mid-table team.
What happens then remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, Pools have signed Manchester City winger James Poole on loan for a month, offering the possibility of them fiddling a side including players named Hartley and Poole some time over the next few weeks.
But whether the new lad, who was on loan to Bury late last season, will figure in the first team remains to be seen – he’s only a bairn and might have to settle for a place on the bench at Orient.
Meanwhile, reports that Wadsworth is looking for somebody called United are wide of the mark.
A result at Brisbane Road will keep the run going and do the team’s confidence no harm, but a defeat will plunge the side backs in the clarts. Now that Pools have shown what they can do, that’s the last thing they need.