Report: Huddersfield Town 2 Hartlepool United 1

By Albatross
August 27 2005

A game of two halves is an old cliche, but one that seems highly appropriate. Adam Boyd scored his first goal of the season, but it was already too late for Hartlepool United: their first half performance effectively handed victory to Huddersfield Town at the Galpharm Stadium.

What a contrast to our last visit to the Galpharm Stadium. Last time it was a rain-swept Monday Evening that had left the pitch pretty waterlogeed; this time it was a bright, sunny Saturday with plenty of opportunity to observe that the Huddersfield Mascot looked suspiciously like Bungle from Rainbow, only having let his hair grow.

Pools lined up with just one change to the starting eleven from midweek - hardly unexpected as two goal hero Michael Proctor was preferred in attack to Adam Boyd. Pools kicked off towards the far end from the decent turnout of Pools fans. Within 20 seconds, they had lost the ball on the left and Huddersfield attacked quickly down the left, swung a cross over and won a corner when Nelson put the ball behind. Proctor got the corner to the edge of the box clear and set off on the break, but was never in the clear and lost out near the home side's box.

It was end to end stuff to start with, but our opponents were certainly getting the better of it. On two minutes a long ball into the channel found Abbott; he broke into the box before being stopped by Nelson, cleanly - although that didn't stop a shout for a penalty that was ignored by the Ref. Pools broke upfield quickly to carve out a chance for Proctor to try a long range effort that Rachubka claimed comfortably before setting the home side on a quick break of their own - Taylor-Fletcher forcing Dimi to make a good stop at his near post.

Butler found his way into the book on 5 minutes, fouling Taylor-Fletcher; Pools had been on the attack, a long throw from Humphreys causing havoc in the box before Matty Robson ran the clearance back towards them - only to lose out and leave Butler making a clumsy challenge on the former Lincoln man.

Humphreys was next to take on the home defence, going on a determined run down the right flank before playing the ball through to Proctor on the edge of the area - only for the Pools forward to fail to get a shot in.

Huddersfield were playing some good football, but also showing that they knew how to work the channels effectively, and did so again on 8 minutes: Abbott collected a quick through-ball on the right, and forced Williams to concede a corner that was headed wide by Clarke.

Pools were guilty of giving the ball away too easily, but it was still a little ironic that we went behind straight after a little spell where we'd held possession and passed the ball around pretty well. When the move broke down without having really threatened on 12 minutes, Huddersfield immediately played a long ball over the top into the channel. ABBOTT accelerated away from the Pools defence, the flag stayed down and he finished cooly past Dimi.

Worse was yet to come. Huddersfield continued to press, forcing a corner on the right that was cleared for Taylor-Fletcher to send over a cross that Dimi had to take, before they doubled their advantage. Pools conceded a free kick on the left, and the floated free kick from deep was poorly dealt with by Nelson; Dimi blocked one shot, Williams another, but when SCHOFIELD took the ball across a couple of yards he found enough room to slot home with ease.

At this point I really thought we were in for a drubbing - and the rest of the half did little to dispell that. Pools were constantly being caught out, with the home side looking to exploit the channels to great success, playing some good football, and giving us little chance to get into the game. They looked a cut above us - faster, sharper, and out-thinking us. When we did get the ball our options all too often were limited to pumping a high ball in the direction of Daly; and while he was doing all right and looked dominant in the air, no-one was looking to get onto his flick-ons or knock downs. The home defence soon realised that all they had to do was pick up the pieces.

Until half time it was a depressing time to be a Poolie. Only Daly and Dimi looked to be having decent games; the rest of the side simply weren't at the races. Some neat football gave Abbott the chance for a snap shot from just inside the area on 25 minutes that went just over; three minutes later Dimi had to claim a flicked-on cross from the head of a Huddersfield attacker; on 34 minutes another ball down the channel provided another opportunity that should really have been put away before Collins managed to clear. Worthington was lucky not to be booked on 39 minutes after diving in late on Matty Robson who was in his own half; more neat play on 41 minutes almost carved out another opportunity before Nelson cleared for a corner. The only real attacking moment of note came from a long Williams free kick that found it's way to Nelson - but the keeper saved comfortably.

Half time saw the Pools fans booing the team from the field, and it wasn't hard to see why. Our opponents were tearing us apart, and we were lucky that the defecit was only two goals - it could easily have been double that. Only Daly and Dimi were really earning their corn; and the football from Pools was pretty dire, mainly trying to knock it forward for Daly but with little in the way of support for the big man.

It was no surprise that Scott made a couple of changes at the break; what was a surprise was that Daly, possibly the only outfield player to have shown willing, was one of those to make way. He left together with Strachan; Boyd and Bullock came on in a straight swap. There was also a switch of flanks for Butler and Humphreys.

Straight away Pools looked like a better side. A long free kick in the first 30 seconds was headed infield by Humphreys and then flicked through for Boyd by Proctor - Rachubka though was out quickly to claim the ball ahead of the Pools striker. On 48 minutes Robson advanced with purpose down the left, turned the ball over to the midfield who played Sweeeney in down the right; his cross from the edge of the box was too high, but the signs were promising. More good play resulted in a goalmouth scramble, and then came the time for the prodigal to show what we'd been missing.

on 50 minutes Pools again advanced, playing through the midfield once more; the ball came to BOYD, about 25 yards out and left of centre. He took a touch, and then blasted a superb shot into the top right-hand corner. What a way to open your account for the new season, and suddenly Pools - despite the disaster of the first half - were back in with a shout. At long last we had something to sing about!

Three minutes later Boyd was again cauing problems for the home side. He received the ball on the edge of the box, broke into the area , twisted and turned, but couldn't quite find the room to get a shot away as the thankful home defence scrambled the ball away.

Nelson was booked on 55 minutes, what looked to be a poor decision after Abbott had gone tumbling.

Boyd was at the centre of all of our best play by now, and on 59 minutes he combined with Robson to win a throw; Richie's long throw was flicked on in the box by Nelson; however Boyd had to retrieve it , saw his cross cleared only for Bullock to collect and chip the ball back in. Proctor was on the end of it with his back to goal, before turning well and shooting powerfully - but unfortunately straight at the Keepr at the near post. Two minutes later more good play found Boyd get to the byline on the right and cross tantalisingly - and Pools had a corner as the defender at the far post headed behind. The corner was played short to Boyd, he turned and got into the area before shooting and forcing another save from Rachubka for a corner. This time the ball came out to Proctor, who forced yet another corner as Pools put sustained pressure on the home side. The high and deep corner caused consternation for the home defence who couldn't get it clear - but they were rescued by an offside decision to finally clear their lines.

It was great stuff from Pools though, and it looked entirely possible we'd grab an equaliser. Our next chance came on 65 minutes; a long through-ball from Williams was headed on by Boyd for Sweeney to rush onto and shoot from distance - another corner the ony reward after it was blocked by Tom Clarke. The corner was played too deep, Nelson retrieved it though and crossed to Humphreys; he had the time to set himself, but shot at Rachubka. Shortly after Humph was fouled by Adams, the Hudds player being booked for his troubles.

Hudersfield were still dangerous on the break; on 73 minutes another long channel ball (to Abbott I think, although distance and the inability to make out the numbers on the home shirts mean I may be wrong) was collected as Pools again unsuccessfully claimed offside - only for Dimi to make a great stop to keep Pools in with a chance.

Humphreys was replaced by Llewellyn on 76 minutes, and Pools seemed to try and change formation. Initially it looked as if Boyd may be dropping into midfield; but it seemed as if Llewellyn was being asked to play out on the left side of attack in a 4-3-3. Pools however lost their shape somewhat. The home side came back into the game, Schofield shooting well wide from 20 yards; and on 81 minutes a Huddersfield corner saw Dimi have to make a save from Worthington; a minute later he had to made a dine stop from Schofield. By now we were committing more men forward - and the home side were able to try and exploit the gaps. The final few minutes saw Nelson joining the attack, but Pools struggled to cut out clear chances and Huddersfield always looked to have a chance on the break. Pools last real chance came from a corner in stoppage time - but Nelson's header back across goal seemed to be headed further away by another Pools player, and time ran out. The final whistle saw cheers rather than jeers - the team had made a valiant effort to recover and had only just fallen short.

A 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield is far from wrist-slashing time - they should be amongst the strongest teams in the division this year. However our first half performance was quite simply abysmal. We were fortunate that the game wasn't already dead and buried by the break; and although the second half was much more like the way we expect Pools to play, the team had effectively already shot itself in the foot.

So why the Jeckyl and Hyde performance? Sad to say, the problem may have been the presence of Daly. Not that he did anything wrong - indeed I'd say he was the only one that seemed to be trying for much of the first half and he did well enough. It just seemed that with a big tall forward Pools - whether acting under instruction or simply through taking the easy option too often - seemed to be trying to find him with every ball forward, instead of trying to play through midfield as we did so effectively after the break. There's no particular reason why we should be doing this - I'd hardly expect Liverpool to play long ball football when Peter Crouch is available - but as soon as he went off we were forced to play some better quality football and had a good side on the rack for periods. If we'd played the first half like we did the second we might have been celebrating victory tonight. The first half performance was unacceptable: Pools need to lose the tag of being slow starters, as we seem to be losing out in the opening quarter far too often at the moment.

So what's next, Mr. Scott? Can he fix things in the engine room at warp speed, or will it all blow up in his face? One thing is for sure - if the results and performances don't start picking up soon, there will be quite a few restless Pools fans around.