2004/5 Season Review: May

By Albatross
June 14 2005

Hartlepool United have frequently left things to the last minute in recent seasons, but May 2005 surpassed anything we'd ever seen before. Neale Cooper left the club, but that didn't stop Pools getting into the playoffs - and almost through them.

The news that shocked pretty much every Pools fan came on 4th May, in the form of a text message from the club: "effective immediately Neale Cooper has left the club by mutual consent" - a few word that spelled potential turmoil. At the time of writing the reasons for Cooper's departure are not clear. Had he lost the dressing room as some claimed? Were there other reasons? We still don't know, and may never be sure.

The timing was about as bad as it could be. Three days later we were due to be playing at Bournemouth in a match that would decide the final playoff place - and now we would have to do it without our manager. We were not leaderless though; Martin Scott would be in charge for the rest of the season.

Pools travelled to the South Coast on a tide of speculation and misinformation. Many places were reporting that Cooper had been sacked; the club strenuously denied this, and were highly critical of some selective quoting from the Hartlepool Mail that gave the impression that Ken Hodcroft was telling the fans to get lost if they didn't like what was going on - something that his version of the conversation gave a very different slant to.

For a team supposedly in disarray Pools looked pretty good though. Bournemouth needed the win to get ahead of us; we only needed a draw. Hayter put the home side ahead, but Jon Daly's first goal of the club pulled things back. Hayter scored again before half time, but with Sweeney putting things level again Pools got the point they needed after some nervous moments. Once again, a last day effort had taken us into the playoffs.

Tranmere were our opponents, and were favourites to win - but at Victoria Park for the first leg there was only one team in it. Even with Player of the Year Joel Porter only making the bench, Pools were the more potent attacking force and with every player working to deny our opponents space gave Rovers few chances to get into the game. A brace from Adam Boyd meant that we would go into the second leg two goals to the good.

Tranmere had only one hope for the second leg: all-out attack. Pools were under constant pressure almost from the first whistle; but with Dimi turning in a phenomenal performance and the defence standing firm it looked like we'd make it. However Barron was forced off with injury, and Scott moved Westwood to full-back as Tinkler came on into central defence and we looked more vulnerable. A free kick from Ryan Taylor gave the home side renewed hope - but it wasn't until three minutes before the end that Beresford finally pulled them level. Pools rallied in Extra Time and should really have had a penalty for a foul on Sweeney right at the death - but it would be penalties after all.

Dimi had been the best player on the pitch, and proved his worth again in the shootout. Ryan Taylor saw the Greek Keeper save the first penalty of the shootout; he then saved the seventh penalty as well to allow Richie Humphreys to step forward and put to bed the memory of his miss in the Playoff Semi three years earlier and send Pools into the Playoff Final at the fifth time of asking.

Sheffield Wednesday were to be our opponents, and Final Fever seemed to hit Hartlepool. Well over 16,000 tickets were shifted by Pools, and although Cooper wasn't quite forgotten - especially when he took over unexpectedly at Gillingham - the talk was of Cardiff, and the chance to go where no Pools side had ever gone before. Meanwhile Humphreys signed a new deal to stay at the club.

The final itself was a great day out - but left every Poolie ruing what might have been. Having been second best throughout the first half, Pools then dominated after the break with Williams equalising shortly after half time and then Daly - with his first touch after coming on as a sub - sending us into dreamland. Sturrock was forced to gamble everything on a triple substitution for Wednesday - but it was the Referee that would make the difference. The controversial penalty, the resulting red card for an incensed Chris Westwood, and effectively one dubious decision killed our hopes. We held out for extra time, but with no cards left to play and a team that was visibly tiring and a man down in any case it was no surprise that Wednesday pulled ahead in the extra half hour before finishing things off with a late goal as Pools piled forward in stoppage time. The dream - and the season - was finally over; but there's always next year!