Reaction: We're on our way to Cardiff!

By Albatross
May 18 2005

My voice is probably gone, my hands are sore, and I'm supposed to be getting up for work far too soon after posting this. I don't care, because at the fifth time of asking Hartlepool United have finally made the Playoff Final. The dream lives on!

Regular readers of this site know that I usually try and present a sensible Poolie View on events, but there is a time and a place for things and right now there is a place for hyperbole and over-reaction. Here goes.....

Lily Savage! John Aldridge! Johnny King! Glenda Jackson! Johhnny Morrissey! Half man Half Biscuit! Can you hear me, Half Man Half Biscuit! Your boys took one hell of a beating!

Getting back to what little plot I still have hold of, all I can say is "What a magnificent night to be a Poolie!" They don't half put you through it though.... but then again over the last few years Pools have rarely taken the easy option. Tranmere fans will no doubt be talking about bad luck, Dimi being the only reason we're through, there has to be a better way than penalties, and a thousand and one other reasons why they should have gone through; but the bald facts are that it is Hartlepool United that have reached Cardiff, and after some of the bad luck we've had over the years maybe it's about time we had some of the good stuff.

Dimi was magnificent, so were Nelson, Westwood and Robson; and while it did seem akin to the Alamo for long spells quite frankly I don't care. Dimi has to be man of the match, Humphreys showed tremendous bottle to step forward when he did, and Pools are through. And if Richie felt he owed us something after his penalty miss sent us out of the Playoffs at Cheltenham three years ago, then he's payed it back with interest tonight.

It's taken five attempts, but at last we're through to a Playoff Final. It's Destination Cardiff on Sunday 29th May; can we take things yet another step and go where no Pools team has ever gone before?

There will be a full match report on Pools Online once I have come down off the ceiling and got around to writing it. In the meantime, the short version is as follows:

WE WON!!!