FRIDAY night football at Hartlepool United is all about wind, rain and spectacular goals.

Last April Adam Boyd won the North-East goal of the season award with a stunning strike against Sheffield Wednesday in awful conditions.

Last night the weather may not have been as rough but, both Michael Maidens and Joel Porter put their cases forward for a 2005/6 award.

It will take something special to pip Maidens after his wild 40 yard drive put Pool in the lead against Huddersfield.

But what a story Porter presented. In his first outing of the season, the second half substitute cracked a 20-yard drive into the top corner to clinch Pool's second win under Paul Stephenson.

Five games unbeaten under the caretaker boss and Pool are looking like the team that reached the play-offs last season, not one at the wrong end of the table.

The previous manager never had the talents of Porter and Boyd available. But the previous manager didn't have his side playing with such swagger and enjoyment.

Stephenson had his side working on their shooting and attacking play in the last week. It certainly paid glorious dividends last night.

The first came when Ritchie Humphreys picked up a loose pass and drove forward towards goal, positively brushing team-mate Chris Llewellyn away from possession.

With the defence backing off, the opportunity was there for a drive at goal. But instead, he expertly found Boyd who sidefooted low past keeper Phil Senior from eight yards.

The Terriers first chance came in similar vein to Pool's.

Chris Brandon took the role of Humphreys by creating and his low cross had three targets inside the penalty area. David Graham's tame shot didn't have the pace of Boyd's and was easy for Dimi Konstantopoulos.

Pool were chasing everything and stopping the visitors from getting any worthwhile possession.

When they were allowed the ball they looked comfortable with it and they levelled with a swift attack and a true finish.

Brandon broke out after Darren Williams had ventured into the visiting area and found Graham on the right side. He came inside and curled the ball across the dive of Konstantopoulos from 20 yards.

Boyd thought he had given Pool the lead again after a flowing move when he took a Maidens cross and shot on the turn from the edge of the box, only for the ball to crash back off the post.

Andy Booth climbed above Darren Williams to meet a floated Brandon cross and while he scored a similar header in last season's game to win it, this time his effort hit the top of the bar.

Konstantopoulos had to go low to save a Graham free-kick from 20 yards and then Williams scrambled away for a corner as Pool were forced on the back foot.

Nelson's back header fell well short of its intended destination and into the path of Brandon. When he got into the area, he should have done more than shoot low at Konstantopoulos.

The Pool midfield was being overrun in the opening half, with Brandon causing problems as he roamed around at will.

But it was the Pool player on the opposite flank who took a turn to exert the biggest influence.

Maidens burst into life and fizzed a tantalising cross into the corridor of uncertainty, but no blue shirt was there to convert.

When Maidens was tripped by Booth, there was no indication of the mayhem to follow.

Williams free-kick found Boyd ten yards out, his shot was parried by Senior. Maidens' follow-up was palmed away by the keeper and Nelson's drive from distance was pushed aside.

It looked like the chaos was over, when Maidens got the ball 40 yards out on the touchline.

But a quick look, a flash of his white boots and the ball fizzed into the net for a spectacular inaugural goal for the teenager.

He was tripped as he went beyond Danny Adams and Humphrey's curling set-piece from an angle was pushed out by Senior.

Pool were given an escape when Graham got into the area and was felled by the advancing Konstantopoulos. After a long look at his assistant for help, referee Mike Jones played on.

With 15 minutes remaining, Pool's first choice strike force was finally paired together for the first time this season.

Joel Porter hasn't kicked a ball this season because of knee trouble and he was given 15 minutes.

It took him all of 40 seconds to create his first chance. A deft pass played in Boyd, who, instead of shooting, squared for Matty Robson to bury into the empty net.

If Maidens made his claim for the goal of the season, Robson's will go down as one of the the misses of the campaign.

But Porter took possession from Llewellyn and rifled a shot high into the Town End net.

Southend extended their lead to nine points at the top of Coca-Cola League One with a 3-0 victory over Scunthorpe at Roots Hall.

The Shrimpers took an early lead courtesy of Freddy Eastwood who hit a 25-yard shot from the left for his 18th goal of the season.

Although the visitors took the game to Southend, the hosts doubled their lead after 53 minutes through Lee Bradbury from close range before Shaun Goater made it 3-0 with 15 minutes to go.

Milton Keynes Dons remain rooted to the bottom of the division following a 1-0 home defeat by Bristol City.

Steve Brooker scored the only goal of the game after four minutes to leave the Dons shell-shocked.

However, they recovered and had a number of attempts on goal through Nicky Ruzzo and Clive Platt while Ben Harding hit the post but could not find the breakthrough