Pools loan star Noble earns away points

It was fitting that Hartlepool United's only on-loan player should score the goal that gave them victory at a ground where borrowing talent from other clubs has almost been turned into an art form.

With an incredible SEVEN players on loan, Yeovil were only able to field four subs because the regulations bar them from naming more than five loanees in a squad, but it was Pools’ one and only incomer, Ryan Noble, who scored the only goal.

In an untidy game, Noble showed a goal-poacher’s instinct when he turned well in a packed area to smash a rising shot into the net midway through the second half.

Keeper Scott Flinders laid the foundations for victory with some top-class saves, while the defence in front of him battled hard as Pools earned their eighth away win of the season and took them to the half-century in points this season.

Neale Cooper is always honest in his post-match assessments, never coming out with the bluster and deception often used by managers to present a flase pticture of a game and he admitted his team rode their luck.

He told the club website: “To come here after the disappointment of Tuesday night was going to be hard because they have been in really good form and we hadn’t scored for a little while.

“They looked a good team, but we have gone to places like Huddersfield and Preston, played well and got nothing from it. We had some luck, but we scored a really good goal and we hung in there when a lot of the problems we had were caused by ourselves.

“The boys worked hard to defend that lead and Scott Flinders was brilliant again.”

With just seven games left, four at home and three away, Pools are at home to Sheffield United next weekend followed by Colchester away and Brentford at home over Easter.

They need to leave home fans with some good memories to see them over the summer.