Hartlepool United take on Sheffield Wednesday

By Albatross
August 13 2003

Hartlepool United have their first chance to put one over on their former manager Chris Turner tonight as the Carling Cup sees us travel to Sheffield Wednesday. It's not a competition we've done much in for a while - will Neale Cooper be able to change that?

The last time Pools and the Wendies played each other was in this competition back in 1992 - the two-legged tie being the only previous occasion we've met in a competitive fixture. We drew the second leg at the Vic 2-2, going out 5-2 on aggregate - but what most Poolies will remember from that night was the pointless attempt by Carlton Palmer to wind up Brian Honour by going on about the size of his wage packet, how many cars he had and so on that resulted in Jackie getting booked for the heinous crime of throwing his neck at Palmer's arm.

How times have changed. Pools at the time were in their second season after promotion, in what had just been renamed Division 2, and Gibson's money was about to disappear; we went into a decline on the pitch that took us seven years to turn around. Meanwhile, Wednesday went on to reach both Cup Finals and finish seventh in the Premiership. As our decline was halted, theirs started - the first playoff season for us saw them leave the Premier, and while we battled away at the right end of Div3 they were at the wrong end of Div1, culminating in our promotion and their relegation at the end of last season.

Tonight's game has more than a passing interest for the neutral. The manager who turned us around is now trying to do the same at Hillsborough; and to help him he's brought in two of his staff at Pools, and (to date) three of the players that helped Pools win promotion in Graeme Lee, Paul Smith and Brian Barry-Murphy. With Gordon Watson due back to discuss a deal with his old club when he recovers from injury, and former Wendy triallist Gavin Strachan now at Pools, there are more links between the clubs now than at any time before - and so more reason for Poolies to want to get one over on Wednesday.

As far as the teams go, it looks likely that both sides will be similar to their respective lineups on Saturday, with Pools playing a 3-5-2 and Sheffield 4-4-2. It looks unlikely that Tinkler and Barron will be risked, even if recovered from injury, and the Wendies will almost certainly be missing their recent signing Robbie Mustoe for the same reason. The BBC site is reporting that Kevin Pressman may get the nod over Ola Tidman in goal, and following his blooper in the pre-season friendly at the Vic I'm sure many Poolies would be delighted if it is Pressman between the sticks - and there might even be one or two cheeky long-range "shots" from Pools to remind him of that game.

As far as form goes, it's much too early to have anything meaningful to say. Both sides won away from home on Saturday, with Wednesday possibly having the better opposition in Swindon. While Pools battled away to gain an unlikely victory though, Wednesday almost did the opposite; after going 3-0 up in less than half an hour thanks to goals from Owusu (2) and Kuqi, they were pegged back to 3-2 and Swindon were disappointed not to come away with at least a point after dominating for long spells. Their most impressive player was Terry Cooke, and the right winger will be looking to continue his good form against Pools tonight.

The Bookies have no doubt as to who the favourite is for tonight's game; William Hills have Wednesday odds-on favourites at 8-15, with Pools 4-1 to take the victory in 90 minutes and even the draw at longer odds than 2-1.

It looks likely that there will be a fair number of Poolies making the trip - including yours truly. Will we come away with a victory? Some Wednesday fans are discussing whether a cup run is a good thing, and it might be nice to make sure they don't have a choice in the matter. However, I think that they will prove slightly too strong for us on their own turf, so I'm predicting a 2-1 defeat for Pools, Paul Robinson to score the goal.