Preview: Hartlepool United v Colchester United

By Albatross
December 6 2005

Hartlepool United could do with a good result tonight, as the first installment towards making amends for the shocker that was Saturday. However, they'll have to beat a real form side to do so....

They always say that if you fall off your bike, the thing to do is to get straight back on it again. If the same applies in Football, then the good news for Pools after the debacle at the weekend is that they've got a chance to try and make some amends. The bad news is that we're playing a side that have been showing good form in recent weeks.

Phil Parkinson was unlucky to miss out on the Manager of the Month award for November in fact: his Colchester side won every game they played in both league and cup competitions. They progressed to Round 3 of the FA Cup by beating Shrewsbury on Saturday, and their winning run now extends to seven games, with their last defeat coming nine games ago at the hands of Bournemouth. One of the more eye-catching games was the 1st round FA Cup tie with Leamington: although it may be memorable to Match of the Day viewers for the rather exuberant celebrations of one of the non-league side's fans when they scored, the U's had already bagged seven themselves by then and added another two late on through sometime Pools loanee Neil Danns.

Their good form has propelled them close to a playoff place and Phil Parkinson is continuing to impress. On resources that are not exactly bountiful he is turning Colchester into a side that will feel there's a reasonable chance of a playoff place come the season's mid-point.

Chris Iwelumo - a summer arrival on a free transfer - is proving to have been an astute signing and is currently leading scorer with eleven goals (9 league). Greg Halford has weighed in with 8 (7 league) from midfield - and gained some higher-division admirers in the process - but possibly feeling that Iwelumo needed more support up front, in late October Parkinson added former Reading and Bristol Rovers forward Jamie Cureton. Cureton, who had been having a fruitless time of it at Swindon, has said he wants to stay with the Wiltshire club but in the meantime his performances at Layer Road mean that Colchester would love to sign him on a more permanent basis: he's grabbed three goals in four league games and three more in two FA Cup games.

With no new injury worries (Marino Keith and Stephen Hunt are still on the sidelines) the chances are that Colchester will be unchanged for the game against Pools. Parkinson though is trying to keep his players minds on the job: speaking to the BBC last week, he said he had told the players that no-one is guaranteed their place and commented on the fact that he has plenty of competition in the squad.

Meanwhile Pools go into this game with Neill Collins available again - but a big doubt over Michael Nelson after he had to leave the pitch on Saturday. There's also plenty of desire among the fans to see some wholesale changes to the side: Barron has been fit enough for the bench for the last couple of games and especially if Nelson is out then he could well come into the side on the right with Williams switching to the centre to partner Collins - meaning Craddock would miss out. Humphreys' sojourn back in the midfield may be ended with him being pulled back to the left back spot, although Scott may be tempted to give Hugh Robertson a start after his outings for the reserves. In fact, we do actually have the makings of having an experienced side and bench if the players are picked: to Provett add Ben Clark, Darrell Clarke, Gavin Strachan and whoever doesn't play out of Eifion Williams, Michael Proctor or Jon Daly, before you even take into account whether Robertson and Barron are selected from the start, or whether Bullock is fit after his recent injury problems. There are options available to Scott then, even allowing for the likes of Robson, Boyd and Porter being out of action.

So how do I think Pools will do tonight? We're playing arguably the form side in the division, our home record is poor, and we've just suffered an embarrassing FA Cup defeat. That adds up to trouble in most eyes. Pools have though shown a tendency to pull a result out of the hat when no-one's expecting it - and expectations are not high and will probably be reflected in the attendance. Even so I can't see us doing better than a draw: 1-1, with Butler to score.