Pools 3 Newport 0

A three nil scoreline always looks comprehensive on paper but this was anything but against a hard working County side who were let down by their crossing and finishing ...

If you don't score you won't win matches and we managed two good ones and one own goal which was farcical. We were also entertained by a Fancy Pigeon with wonderful feathered feet which pecked away at the pitch at the Town End for the last 15 minutes oblivious to the crowd and the play.

By contrast the first half hour of this game was forgettable and played in front of the most subduedt crowd of the season.

Things livened up as portly ref Mr Kettle came into his own angering quite a few with his inconstintency, and getting into a needless debate with Marlon Harewood which ended with an inevitable booking for the Pools player.

Harewood looked furious for the following five minutes, but it didn't put him off his game which consisted of always being available and not trying to do anything dramatic while bringing his teammates into play.

The standout players for Pools were Burgess and Walton. The former made a superb last ditch sliding tackle to deny County an almost certain goal just before the break,  while the former made our goal just minutes before by winning the ball out on the left. He found Luke James who swivelled and sent in a low shot from the edge of the box.

County refused to let us have the ball for the first 15 minutes of the second half without looking like scoring, but they did manage one in their own net.

Walton's corner went to the near post where three defenders managed to let the ball ping around between them before it came off one of their backsides and into the  goal.

At 2-0  up Pools played with more confidence and with Holden allowed lots of space wide on the left we mounted increasing pressure with Williams, who had been quiet in  the middle part of the game, looking threatening.

And so it was that he scored the third with the last kick of the game after good work by Monkhouse who squared the ball back from the goal line.

A decent win but nothing to get carried away about.