Orient expose Pools lack of consistency

Perhaps those dreams of a late burst into the play-off mix were a little too ambitious for Hartlepool United, and they will probably now have to settle for mid-table league One security after another game in which their inconsistency and lack of punch in attack was exposed. Pools didn’t play badly, but Leyton Orient deserved their 1-0 win at the Vic.

Basically, the game showed the difference between what is needed for mid-table safety and what is needed to have a play-off chance – Pools worked hard and created chances, Orient matched them, were brilliantly organised defensively and snatched the all-important single goal.
It came midway through the first half when Jimmy Scott took a rare Orient chance well.
The major problem with Pools is their inconsistency – it’s held them back all season and will continue to do so until they start to score a better percentage of their chances. There were three good home chances inside the first few minutes.
But how long have we been saying that?
As usual, Mick Wadsworth – who has done such a good job transforming Pools from a side heading for trouble into one that has all but clinched safety – was positive.
He told the Northern Echo: "No reward, with lots of chances, half-chances, set-plays and pressure. We played well in terms of pressure and intensity in the second-half without coming out of it. "We have to start well and start like that and put teams under pressure like we have in recent months.''
"There's a way to win and a way to lose and if you are going to lose, go down fighting. We've lost at home to MK Dons, Huddersfield and now Orient in recent weeks and they are teams who pass the ball around and play football and we have been in the game every time.
"We could have got something out of every game and that's being terribly fair to our players.
"If you lose, like we did in that manner I can accept it.''
He’s dead right, of course, but the trouble is it’s happened too often because as well as narrow defeats like this one, there have been a few bad ones at the Vic and it all adds up to make Pools no better than mediocre.
But then, that’s probably better than many people feared early in the season.