2004/5 Season Review: January

By Albatross
June 8 2005

January 2005 was another good month for Hartlepool United, with progress being made in both league and FA Cup. By now we were firmly in the playoff places, and our thoughts turned to catching the teams above us.

If December had seen Pools emerge as Playoff Contenders, January was to see us not only confirm that but also threaten to go even higher. It started quietly enough; a 0-0 draw at Barnsley on New Year's Day. Fireworks were soon to follow though; a home game with MK Franchise two days later saw Pools run riot, and a 5-0 thrashing fully reflected their superiority.

Then it was back to Cup action. Boston played with little ambition, and Pools struggled to break them down; Boyd missed a late penalty against the team he'd been on loan to 12 months before and it was back to theirs. Once more hopes of a big draw were dashed; the winner would find themselves travelling to Brentford.

Travelling by now held few fears for Pools, and the following weekend saw the team coming from behind to beat Torquay thanks to goals from Sweeney and the increasingly impressive Porter. Meanwhile the news was less good for Darrell Clarke; in a bid to gain match fitness he'd joined Stockport on loan - only to suffer another knee injury after about half an hour. That 32 minutes would prove to be his only first team action of the season.

Back to Boston for the Cup Replay, and Boyd made up for his penalty miss by grabbing the only goal of the game. Another home win the following Saturday - 2-1 over Bristol City, thanks to goals from Boyd and Sweeney - was our tenth in a row in home league games. With an away run also developing, things looked pretty good.

The final game of the month was the FA Cup 4th round game with Brentford: and the result was a fairly uninspiring 0-0 draw. The draw for the next round finally pulled out a Premiership club: Southampton away would be the reward for the winners. Could Pools do it? After an undefeated January, leading to Neale Cooper being named Manager of the Month, confidence was high at Hartlepool United.