2004/5 Season Review - October

By Albatross
June 3 2005

October was another mixed month for Hartlepool United; by the end of it we had one of the best home records in the division, but also the worst away record. And although Ben Clark finally arrived, Michael Nelson announced he wanted to leave.

With the Pools defence seemingly struggling, rumours had begun surfacing that Ben Clark was due to arrive from Sunderland; however he wasn't in the side in time for our first game of October, another home game with Hull City - this time in the League. Hull were already at the right end of the table; Pools meanwhile were in mid-table, and with Hull at full strength the omens weren't good; however, possibly our best performance of the season so far from a together-looking team saw us win 2-0 with goals from Porter and Boyd.

Woods was away on International Duty for our next game, and it turned out to be Alan Pouton's last appearance as well. A game at runaway leaders Luton saw Pools emerge with some credit but another heavy defeat - 3-0. Pools had performed well, particularly in the first half, but couldn't put the ball in the net and were made to pay for their profligacy.

Back at home the following week, and back into the side following his suspension came Tony Sweeney. He didn't waste much time in celebrating; before ten minutes had gone he'd put us 2-0 ahead and we were cruising. Unfortunately the Pools defence was a little rocky, and with Nelson looking a shadow of his former self we allowed our opponents to level the game before, with less than 10 minutes to play, Sweeney completed his hat-trick after reacting first to a blocked shot from youth teamer Stephen Turnbull.

The home form may have been holding up, but it needed to - as our next two games showed, we simply couldn't win away from home for love nor money. Brentford in midweek were on a tremendous home run, but Pools took the lead through Matty Robson and looked like taking at least a point from the game before an injury time Deon Burton goal grabbed a win that even Bees fans considered fortunate. The long-rumoured arrival on Ben Clark from Sunderland finally happened in time for the weekend fixture with Peterborough - but Cooper's preparations had a double disruption with Woods being recalled by Leeds, and Nelson handing in a transfer request, unhappy that he hadn't received a pay increase as his agent claimed he'd been promised. While the general opinion seemed to be that his agent was stirring up trouble, Nelse certainly hadn't looked happy and was well out of form; and with another central defender having just arrived at the club it didn't look to be a smart move. The match itself was an unmitigated disaste for Pools - having pushed one of the best home sides in the division all the way in midweek, they lost 3-0 against one of the worst to leave Poolies everywhere wondering where the side with the best away record the previous season had gone wrong - the losing run away was now at seven games in all competitions.

Fortunately at home we were still capable of pulling out the results. Nelson missed the last game of the month against Port Vale through suspension; so did Adam Boyd, while Porter was dropped in favour of Jack Wilkinson. Eifion Williams scored the only goal, as a less than impressive performance was still good enough to take the three points.

It had been a turbulent month, and concern about our dire away form was growing; would November bring any relief?