March: Pools playoff challenge continues

By Albatross
April 1 2004

Pools Online looks back at March, a month that saw Pools in a playoff place for a period and remain well in contention at the right end of the table - there's plenty of people who should be eating their words.....

March has proved to be something of a mixed month for Pools; we've done well away from home, but defeat at the hands of Brentford and QPR at the Vic has taken the lustre off things somewhat. Nevertheless, we've had the eighth best record in the division over the month, and remain in playoff contention - something you would have got long odds on at the start of the season. We are three points away from a playoff place at the moment, with a game in hand on a couple of the teams above us.

Brighton manager Mark McGhee has taken the Manager of the Month award after our next opponents recorded four wins and a draw from six games. It's helped make the South Coast club one of those looking likely to secure a playoff place, and hot on their heels were two other teams from the top end - specifically QPR and Plymouth, who both recorded three wins and three draws. Plymouth are now well clear of the rest despite losing Paul Sturrock; and QPR are now in pole position for the second place in part because of Bristol City's form imploding. After being on a tremendous run not so long ago, they lost four of their six games this month, leaving just Grimsby with a worse record.

Stockport did the best of the sides at the bottom, taking eleven points from six games to give them a fighting chance of avoiding relegation. It's now getting very tight at the bottom: once you get past Wycombe (31) and Notts County (37), six teams are seriously in danger. Oldham with 43 points have the considerable advantage of a neutral goal difference, but right on their tail are Chesterfield (42), Peterborough (41), Brentford (41), Grimsby (41) and Stockport (40).

It's getting to crunch time now, with seven or eight games left for all but Luton, who still have an extra game to catch up. Most teams will have five games left to play following the Easter programme, and while it's not enough to completely settle the majority of issues it won't take long after that before the majority of sides will know their fate. Pools will play six times this month, and if we are still in playoff contention at that point it will be a major achievement: away fixtures against two of the playoff contenders in Brighton and Wrexham, and home games against two more (Luton and Bournemouth) will all be crucial. A double figure points tally should see us in with a shout, but it will require an improvment to our home form and some very good away results.

Whatever happens this month, Pools have had a tremendous season. Nobody gave us a chance of even avoiding relegation this season, with fans and managers of some of the sides we played early in the season taking great delight in telling us we were only going one way and that was down. If all of those were to admit their mistake, an order would be going in for enough humble pie to keep Greggs in business for a decade. The fact of the matter is that we've surprised pretty much everyone with how well we've done this season. Not many sides have outplayed us - QPR being a notable exception - and with a bit sharper finishing we'd be even higher in the table. Neale Cooper for manager of the season? Why not?