Unbeaten Pools climb to sixth top
Lidds -opener
By Charlie Summerbell
September 4 2011
If anybody had predicted at the end of last season that after six games of the new campaign Hartlepool United would be unbeaten, sixth top in League One and playing in front of home crowds of more than 5,000, there would have been good reason to call a doctor.
After all, though they finished the season in safety, Pools only won one of their last ten games and the prospects were hardly bright.
But a rebuilt squad under the care of Mick Wadsworth and that daring summer season-ticket offer have worked wonders - not only are Pools sixth top and unbeaten, but they could be third top.
The four points squandered with late equalising goals at MK Dons and Stevenage would have put them way up there with the early front runners.
And who could say they wouldn’t be there on merit? After all, the draw at MK is the only game the early leaders have failed to win, so it was an early indication that Pools just might be a team to be reckoned with this season.
Their first home win of the season, 2-0 against Exeter, was fully deserved, an early goal from Gary Liddle setting them up and a late finish from sub Nathan Luscombe making sure.
Wadsworth told the club website: “I don’t think we played fantastically, but we ground out a win, and that is pleasing.
“We are in na good position now, but we had a good run last year and then followed it with a poor run – the trick now is to get some consistency and keep accruing the points so that when we do get a loss it isn’t devastating.”
Wadsworth rightly picked out Stephen Wright for praise, saying the new signing slotted in at centre-back as if he’d played for Pools for years. With Sam Collins still injured, Eright really had a blinder and looks a great signing.
So do a few others, and the return from injury of Antony Sweeney and Nobby Solano was another bonus.
This Pools squad really does look a good one, but as Wadsworth says, the secret now is to get some consistency into their results.
Next weekend’s trip to Carlisle will be a test - the Cumbrians are level on points with Pools, yet have surprisingly lost twice at home already.
Winning there would really be something.