Report: Hartlepool United 3 Scunthorpe United 3

Scorer
By Albatross
August 30 2005

It's often said that a good side picks up points when it's not playing well. However, at the moment Hartlepool United look some distance away from being a good side: our 3-3 draw at home to Scunthorpe needed a late rally to get a point from a game that we should have been looking for all three from.

Pools had something of a blow before the match: Thomas Butler, who picked up a knock late on on Saturday, failed a fitness test. Llewellyn was brought in to start on the left wing; Bullock partnered Sweeney in the centre of midfield; and as expected Boyd partnered Proctor up front. On the bench, Provett was accompanied by Daly, Ben Clark, Eifion Williams and Carl Jones.

Scunthorpe kicked off towards the Town End, and a minute later the Ref decided to make his presence felt, booking Nelson for a foul on Sharp. He did clatter him - but was it worth a booking, especially so early in the game? Sadly this would not be the only time the officiating team caused confusion. The resulting free kick from the right was cleared, but then was pumped back in for a suspiciously offside-looking Sharp to shoot wide at the far post.

After a number of slow starts, Pools finally looked to have got it right though as we took the lead on 6 minutes. A Humphreys long throw from the right was sliced by a defender, Pools worked the ball across and found PROCTOR in the area; with a defender in close attendance he shot early with the outside of his right foot to leave the keeper wrong-footed. A very calm finish, and things looked bright in the Bank Holiday Sunshine.

Scunny however hadn't read the script and were on terms just a couple of minutes later. Collins didn't clear well from a Beagrie cross, Llewellyn hacked it away - but only back to the opposition, who again attacked down their right flank and played in SHARP to slide the ball home.

Scunny had their tails up, and won a corner soon after that lead to another; the delivery of the second one was poor though, being easily cleared at the near post. Boyd picked up on the clearance, held the ball well and rode a challenge before trying to set Llewellyn away - but the ball was just too far ahead of the Welshman. On 11 minutes Llewellyn and Boyd combined again as Pools went on the break, and then piled forward to put the away defence under real pressure. The cross from the right was too far though, and when Matty Robson picked it up on the opposite flank and tried to beat his man he was rather surprisingly adjudged to have put the ball out of play for a throw.

Scunny though were looking threatening, with Sharp in particular a danger. He got past the Pools defence again on 15 minutes, only to find Dimi in the right place to make a good stop. Scunny won a corner a couple of minutes later, from which came a bemusing decision; the initial clearance came back in, Williams shepherded it out of play for a goal kick, only for another corner to be given. Fortunately Dimi claimed it easily.

Another Humphreys long throw caused chaos in the Scunthorpe box on 19 minutes; when the ball was crossed back in after initially being cleared Sweeney got on the end of it with a great header towards the far corner that looked like it was a certain goal until Musselwhite claimed it at full stretch.

Pools were generally having the better of the play, but our opponents looked dangerous on the break. The Ref certainly wasn't helping the game flow - he was very quick to blow his whistle, very fussy about making sure throw-ins were taken from exactly the right spot, or that free kicks were positioned correctly to within a few inches. meanwhile the linesman on the Mill House side, looking after the Pools half, seemed to have forgotten what his flag was for.

Sparrow had a long shot well over the bar on 36 minutes; then some good play down the left saw Humphreys set Llewellyn away. He crossed dangerously into the box, but Ryan cleared at the far post. The ref then confused bothe sides, blowing up after a tussle on the left touchline. Neither side seemed to be sure what it was for: it turned out to be a drop ball. It says something that one of the biggest cheers of the half came on 41 minutes when he blew for a foul on Boyd - he'd actually got a decision right! Shortly after another Humphreys long throw reached Nelson, who shot powerfully towards the left corner and forced another good save from Musselwhite.

Scunthorpe almost took the lead on 43 minutes thanks to a dubious non-decision. They broke quickly, and played one over the top for Sparrow. He was clearly offside (I was about level with it on the Mill House Terrace) but incredibly the flag stayed down; fortunately Dimi played to the whistle and made a great stop. There was enough time for Stanton to be booked for a late challenge on Llewellyn, and a huge ironic cheer as the linesman finally got an Offside decision right, before the whistle went for the umpteenth time to mark the end of the first half.

There were no changes to either side at the break; however, the two linesmen did swap over. Great - now we wouldn't have the benefit of the one who'd glued his flag to his shorts.Sure enough, when Proctor got onto the end of Nelson's flick-on from a long free kick and finished, the flag went up as he was a good yard offside. Humphreys then hooked a shot from the right channel well over the bar, and shortly after got the opportunity ot play in Boyd on the right of the area. Boyd was challenged by a Scunny defender, and the Town End appealed; either the defender had taken Boyd, giving away a penalty, or he'd taken the ball, giving us a corner. So the ref gave a Goal Kick of course!

Worse was to come. Sweeney tackled Sparrow, apparently cleanly, only for a free kick to be given. It was played long down the left flank, Pools failed to deal with it, and an unmarked SHARP was allowed to take a step to the side before curling the ball in at the near post - giving Dimi no chance.

Pools surged forward to try and get back into the game; Boyd cushoined a header back from a free kick for Humphreys, who shot powerfully but put the ball a couple of feet over the bar. On 54 minutes Boyd tried a trick on the byle-line on the right, chipping the ball up in the air before hooking it into the middle - but Sweeney's shot was poor and din't trouble the keeper. Meanwhile the ref continued to get under the skin of Poolies, letting a foul on Boyd go unpunished before giving a foul against Bullock for an innocuous tackle.

Scott looked to change things round a bit on 60 minutes, sending on Eifion for Llewellyn. He came on and took up Llewellyn's position on the left wing - meaning we had a right footer on the left, and a left footer on the right. However the substitution almost payed off after just a minute: Humphreys got down the right flank, played the ball through for Proctor, and he crossed to the far post where Eifion sent his header wide. A couple of minutes later Pools tried to turn the screws: a long throw from the right was headed on by Nelson before being cleared for a corner; the conrner was cleared fro a throw; from the throw by Robson Sweeeney tried a long range effort that was very poor, but was kept in play by Boyd on the right. Boyd crossed for Proctor, who headed at Musselwhite.

Ben Clark came on to replace Bullock; seconds later the defecit doubled. The Pools defence was caught out by another long ball, Sharp picked it up and then crossed for the waiting KEOGH to volley home from close range. Pools wer in disarray, and almost made matters worse from the kickoff; Sharp stole in onto a loose pass, and crossed for Taylor to force a save from Dimi. Sharp agains got onto the end of a long ball on 66 minutes, turning and shhoting to force another good stop from the Pools keeper: we were in disarray. We needed to get a grip on things and quickly.

The comeback started on 70 minutes. Stanton fouled Williams on the left; Robson delivered the ball in, Nelson headed down and Proctor shot powerfully. The Town End were about to celebrate when it was blocked by Musselwhite - but EIFION WILLIAMS reacted first to put home the rebound. Scunny were still looking to kill the game off at this point though, and Sharp forced another good save from Dimi on 71 minutes.

Pools were piling forward now, and actually starting to produce some more incisive play. On 77 minutes the ball was worked through midfield to Eifion, now stationed on the right; he put in a good cross that Boyd headed just wide at the near post. Then from the other wing Robson attempted a cross that turned into a shot - forcing Musselwhite to touch the ball over the bar. Shortly after Proctor got onto the end of a long free kick, turned in the box and tried to take the ball with him - only for the ball to be cleared amid a suspicion of handball from a defender. Pools were really going for it now, and won a corner on 82 minutes. Humphreys was about to take it when he was substitued; Daly came on, Boyd moved across to take the kick and found Eifion's head; the ball was blocked and cleared, but then played back in fro Daly to win a header that he sent backwards to Sweeney on the edge of the area, only for his attempt to be blocked.

Scunny were now looking to waste as much time as possible: a substitution seemd to take forever, and when they did win a free kick in a promising position 30 yards (for a foul that saw Darren Williams carded) they elected to play it into the corner. Pools just didn't seem able to do anything about it and defeat was on the cards as 90 minutes approached. Proctor was booked for a foul on Beagrie; however Pools won the ball back, and with no finesse whatsoever launched it upfield. Daly judged the flight of the ball beautifully, and was underneath it in the area when Hinds pushed him over. Penalty, and Hinds was booked for his troubles. Once again the ref showed his fussy side; crossing over Boyd's path at least twice as he made sure every player's toe was behind rather than on the white line of the penalty area; BOYD though kept his head, and calmly slotted home into the left hand corner.

There was even time for Pools to try and snatch a win; with three minutes added time on the clock, Boyd got onto the end of a long clearance to play in Proctor on the edge of the box; he tried to chip the keeper, but instead gave him a comfortable save. Even so, when the final whistle went there was plenty of reason to celebrate for the Pools fans - we'd snatched an undeserved point from the jaws of defeat.

Overall, our showing wasn't worthy of a point. We didn't cope well at all with Sharp, and while Scunny didn't look that great they were competent and well-organised enough to make Pools look very ordinary at times. Some slightly better finishing and we'd never have had the chance to get back into the game. The frustrating thing was that once again we under-performed: the defence struggled to cope with long balls, the midfield didn't provide enough protection for the defence and Boyd and Proctor didn't get much service. The team still hasn't gelled, and it seems we are still missing a left back and right midfielder with the transfer window on the verge of closing. We need to start performing and soon if we are going to seriously trouble the top end of the table this season.