Better Pools - now get it right at home

There's often a lot of debate over when a goal becomes an own goal, and that applied to both scores as Hartlepool United fought back for a 1-1 draw at Dagenham and Redbridge. But what really matters is that they did fight back, recovering from a poor first half to control the second and get their reward in the end ... but only just.

There were four added minutes on the clock when Gary Liddle burst forward from midfield, his shot taking a deflection off a defender to send keeper Tony Roberts the wrong way before hitting the net.
There was hardly time to restart the game after that and after leading from the opening minutes of the second half, when Phil Ifil’s cross hit both Paul Murray and keeper Jake Kean before going in, the home team probably eel they were robbed of a win.
Pity, eh?
Pools sub Armann Bjornsson made a big difference in the second half, when Andy Monkhouse and home defender Mark Arber hit the Daggers woodwork, several other chances going very close before Liddle’s break was rewarded.
Mick Wadsworth admitted that if Pools played in the second half as they had in the first, they would have lost.
But he told the club website: “We changed the way we played. We had to be more aerial and Bjornsson did exceptionally well.
“The important thing was we kept going.”
Having got their good away record back on track after the defeat at Leyton Orient, Pools now face the task of repairing their home form.
After letting themselves and the fans down with the home draw against Bristol Rovers, they are at home to Notts County on Tuesday night before next weekend’s FA Cup home game against Vauxhall Motors.
County, who are not due to change managers this week having done so when Paul Ince was installed last week, are a point behind Pools in the bottom half of the table, and things are still so tight in League One that a Pools win could take them into the top half.
That will do to be going on with as they prepare for the mid-November visit of leaders Brighton after two cup games – VM on Saturday and Sheffield Wednesday away in the Johnstone’s Paints next Wednesday night.
But the County game on Tuesday is a big one ... Pools badly need to get things right at the Vic after showing on Saturday that the Orient defeat was just a blip in their away form.