January - Hartlepool United the best - official

By Albatross
February 3 2003

Hartlepool United have finally won the Manager of the Month award for Mike Newell, after being denied twice before. That's the main point of interest for Poolies, but what else happened in January?

Pools once again had the best record in the division, but after winning three points more than any other team in the league the panel had no opportunity to give the award to someone else - both other times we've had the same number of points, and both times lost out. 13 from five games, and a gap at month end of six points to Rushden - now extended to eight - means that Pools are already a long way towards ensuring Division 2 football next season. As the table stood at the end of the month, just four more wins would be enough to be almost certain of a playoff place - and we've already got one of them.

January's combination of FA Cup action and postponements meant that just seven clubs played five games over the month, with Bournemouth managing just one game, and Rochdale and Wrexham two. Even so, it's in general been a good month for the teams at the top of the table; Rushden were second over the month with ten points, Scunthorpe consolidated their playoff push with the same return, and the top team over the month from outside the top half was Carlisle in eighth place.

Oxford bucked the trend in terms of Manager of the Month, with December's winners reaching sixth in the form table and continuing to push for automatic promotion - albeit a long way behind Pools at the moment.

The bottom few all picked up useful points this month, and that means that things are tightening up in the relegation scrap. Carlisle and Exeter both managed six points from four games, Macclesfield and Bristol Rovers five, and even Swansea managed to end their run of six successive losses with a 2-0 win over Lincoln.

The Cup Teams have suffered this month, partly through not playing games and partly from poor results. Rochdale only played two games in the league and lost them both; Bournemouth's solitary game finished as a draw; Shrewsbury managed a single draw from three games; and Cambridge got two points from their three games.

The situation on 31st January is one of confusion. Some teams had played 29 games - including Pools; Wrexham and Bournemouth had four games in hand, and there are teams at all points in between. Although Pools were 15 points clear of the playoff places at that point, that could be reduced drastically if certain teams win games in hand - though my feeling is that Pools are much better off having the points on the board, particularly given our form in those games.

At the other end of the table, Swansea remain adrift at the bottom, five points behind Carlisle and Bristol Rovers, but with just four points seperating Rochdale in 17th from Carlisle in 23rd, the relegation scrap looks like it may become bigger.

Swansea and Exeter both made signings during the month, Swansea bringing in a plethora of players including former Poolie Lenny Johnrose, sometime Pools target Keiron Durkan, and Roberto Martinez of Wigan fame after a protracted on/off saga. Exeter meanwhile brought in Scott Partridge on loan from Rushden - he's since been recalled - and made the permanent signing of Sean Devine from Wycombe. Devine is a proven goalscorer at this level and has already started to make a difference as the Grecians extended their unbeaten run on Saturday to eight games - the same as Pools, although Exeter have drawn six of those games.

Exeter's highest profile signing though was Darth Vader, to the hilarity of many. Does his arrival mean that there will be a new Silly Season? Let's hope that it's the Pools fans laughing at the end of February.