Match Preview: Hartlepool United v Luton Town

By Albatross
January 30 2004

The temperature may be no great shakes, but Luton Town look set to get a hot reception tomorrow as they take on Hartlepool United at Victoria Park. The heat from the terraces comes of course due to Mr. Monobrow: Mike Newell is making his first return to the Vic since an acrimonious summer departure.

The match will see Mike Newell's first time back at the Vic since his surprise departure in the summer - and he's sure to get a hostile reception from the home fans. Whatever else may have gone on, many fans think Newell was the man to blame for our failure to convert a 14 point lead at the top of the table into our first ever honour - and his "frightened rabbit in the headlights" expression in front of the press at Pools, lack of emotion on the touchline, and apparent desire to not just prove the fans wrong but to say so publicly, such as happened with his non-substitution of Kevin Henderson in the game at Kidderminster, helped make him very unpopular with the majority of fans. His criticisms of the club's board - repeated on a couple of occasions since - sounded a lot like sour grapes; while there may have been some truth in them, given the obvious good relationship between the board and Chris Turner and now Neale Cooper, you can't help but wonder how much of the friction was caused by the former Blackburn striker.

That said, he's doing a decent job on little money at Luton. His arrival via the bizarre "Manager Idol" vote didn't exactly bode well - and certainly annoyed many Luton fans, who'd wanted the popular Joe Kinnear back - and he walked in to a club in crisis. Soon after, the club ended up in Administration - a move that signalled the end of John Gurney's mercifully brief but highly disruptive tenure at the club.

With the club still in administration, Newell has had to go cap in hand to the Football League for permission to sign players, and has also seen Tony Thorpe sold from under him; despite this, Luton are in a respectable 10th place, and are still in with a shout of a playoff place.

Newell's team is however starting to look a little thin on the ground up front. When Thorpe was sold, he brought in Gary McSheffrey on loan from Coventry - and McSheffrey reached double figures; however he returned to Coventry early in December. Leading scorer Adrian Forbes (14 goals) picked up a knee injury about ten days ago in training, and although it's not as bad as first thought he's unlikely to make the trip to Pools. That means that the leading scorer likely to be playing for the Hatters is former Poolie Steve Howard with just six - though he has missed a number of matches through injury and suspension this season.

In fact, there's a makeshift air to the whole side at the moment with injuries and departures hitting a small squad. There are a couple of players on non-contract terms playing for expenses - Enoch Showunmi and Peter Holmes, a number of youth teamers promoted into the first team through necessity, and this week has seen experienced goalkeeper Marlon Beresford leave, after Luton failed to get the go-ahead in time to offer him a permanent deal to replace his month-to-month contract. Instead they have been allowed to sign Morten Hyldgaard on a free transfer from Hibs, and assuming he gets International Clearance that's who will start in goal at the Vic.

Their form though has held up well despite this, with just one defeat in eleven in the league, and five away games since their last defeat - a 6-3 loss at Bournemouth. Only one of those five was a win though, and they lost at home to Tranmere in the FA Cup last week. In fact, their away record ranks as one of the worst in the division - just two wins on their travels, and shipping an average of just under two goals a game. A new keeper in for Saturday isn't going to help matters on that front either.....

Pools come into the game with their tails well up. Tuesday's 5-2 win at a snowy Vale Park was the first time in more than a decade we'd gone nap away from home, and was a great way to bounce back after defeat to Bristol City - a side that is currently the form team in the division having extended their winning run to seven on the spin in midweek.

New signing Hugh Robertson is set to make his debut, coming in at left back for Matty Robson, but it's unlikely that there will be any other changes from the Vale game. It's a sign of how quickly the squad is being reshaped that only half of the team on display were at the club when Newell was in charge - and Provett never got beyond the bench.

This is a game that both sides want to win, but you have to make Pools favourites. Howard always seems to score against us and probably will again - but I'm going for Pools to win 3-1, Eifion, Richie and Nelson to get the goals.