10:32am Saturday 6th February 2010
By Nick Loughlin
ANTONY Sweeney has had enough of Hartlepool United hard-luck stories.
And the midfielder is desperate to put an end to it this afternoon, when Leeds United visit Victoria Park.
Pools have racked up just two wins in 12 games. After the nadir of a 5-0 home whacking by MK Dons last month, they’ve taken just one point from 12.
But their away performances at Bristol Rovers and Norwich in that period have merited far more.
They took the lead at Carrow Road last weekend, only to lose 2-1 after conceding two quick goals.
And, against the secondplaced team in the division and favourites for the title, Sweeney knows there is no room for slacking.
“We’re not the finished article by any means, no team in League One is,’’ he insisted.
“We have to keep working hard, keep listening to what the manager and coaches say and eventually put the ball in the back of the net.
“We’ve been playing a fiveman midfield recently and it does give us the licence to get forward with this system and it’s difficult for defenders to pick up, because you’re not playing an advanced centreforward.
“That’s worked quite well in the last few games, although we’ve got no points to show for it.
“We’re in a difficult period now.’’ With no game next weekend due to Southampton’s FA Cup involvement, Pools are next in action in a fortnight, when Huddersfield visit Victoria Park.
The two-week break, Sweeney feels, can be put to good use.
“As a group of players on the training pitch, we’ve got to iron out the things which we are doing wrong, which is to concede a goal 30 seconds after we scored last week,’’ he said.
“When it was back to 1-1, it totally changes the game really.
If we can iron out these things, the quality we’ve got in the side will hopefully shine through.
“We must be the worst team in the league at taking the lead and losing the game, not even drawing it.
“I can remember jogging back to the halfway line once we scored, saying to the lads and them saying to me ‘keep it tight for the next five or ten minutes’.
“Then, 30 seconds later, we’re having to walk back to the halfway line having to kick off again.
“That’s no good. We’ve got to change that around because we can’t keep doing that and expecting to win games.’’ Leeds won 3-1 against Pools at Elland Road on Boxing Day, a week before Simon Grayson’s side beat Manchester United at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
In midweek they lost 3-1 to Spurs in an FA Cup replay at Elland Road and Sweeney admitted: “I’ve seen them a couple of times. I saw them against Man United on the TV, which was unbelievable.
“Watching their televised games is just a reminder really to see what they’ve got to offer.
“It’ll be a totally different game at our place but hopefully we’ll put in a good performance and get the rewards from it this time.’’ While Leeds have yet to be beaten by Pools in five League One games in recent seasons – a Victoria Park 1-1 draw in 2007 is the only point Pools have earned – Grayson is aware of the danger of complacency.
“Hartlepool are a decent team with some threats,’’ he said.
“We got the rub of the green at times (on Boxing Day) but like any team in our division, if you don’t give them the respect they deserve then you’ll lose.
“We want to get back to being resilient away from home and to start winning because if we want to accumulate more points then we have to start doing it both home and away.
“This weekend is a great opportunity.
“We’ll go out to score first and take the game to them but teams always seem to raise their performances against us.
“We’ve got to be good enough to deal with that.’’
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