Pools slip back into bad habits routine
Crewe Alexandra 3 Hartlepool United 1
FOR the first time in ten seasons,
the final stages of Hartlepool
United's campaign is going to
have little riding on it.
Not since Mick Tait's side finished
17th in Division Three in
1997/98 has a Pools side completed
its final fixtures with nothing
to aim for.
Any footballer or manager will
tell you every outing, every game
means something, but in terms of
what has gone on at Victoria
Park over the last decade, this
promises to be the tamest of finales.
Ten points ahead of the relegation
zone with seven games to
go, and ten points off the play-off
zone, there will be no fingernails
chewed to the bone this season.
Any more performances like
this one at Crewe on Saturday,
however, and there'll be plenty of
reasons to wish the season finished
tomorrow.
After three wins and four improved
displays, Pools slipped
back into old ways and bad habits
at Gresty Road.
A promising start which came
to nothing, a slack goal conceded,
confidence eroded and then any
chance they had of getting something
from the game ended by another
switch-off moment. It's a
familiar tale and one which tells
you why Pools have lost 14 times
away from home this season.
"We started well, not brilliant,
but we were on top and they were
edgy because we pressed well,''
said an exasperated Wilson.
"Then we come off them and concede
- you cannot legislate for it
and it knocks the stuffing out of
you.
"All you want is defenders to do
the ugly side of it - clear, head it,
boot it. We aren't asking them to
be clever and be a Beckenbauer,
just defend.
"We did have situations we didn't
take advantage of and going
into the last five minutes you
never know. But we concede
again, game over and it's the
story of our season so far.
"It's not an individual thing all
the time, but it's decisions made
by individuals at certain times
which cost everyone. It's about
taking responsibility, getting
players to make more demands
on each other.''
And, with contracts up this
summer, he warned: "They are a
fantastic bunch of people, there's
not a bad apple among them but
they are too nice at times. We
need someone horrible in there -
we haven't got one, but we will
get one.
"I don't mean a big physically
hard character, I just mean someone
mentally tough who brings
them together and makes demands
of everyone.
"We are such a nice group, we
let things drift a bit and that's
what has happened so many
times away from home.
"We have had three great results
where you think we've
turned the corner and then it
goes again.
"We work at it and if that doesn't
work, then you change the
players in the summer, end of
story. Players have to come to the
plate - I don't want to be midtable,
I never have done and
never will.
"I want to be in the top six or
top two and if players can't come
to that then we will change them
and if we can afford to bring
them in we will do it - if we can't
we will end up in mid-table
again.''
On Saturday they were seen off
by a team who aren't even midtable.
Crewe's win the previous
week at Gillingham put some
breathing space between themselves
and fourth-bottom.
That the Gills won on Saturday
means they are still four points
adrift of safety and surely not
good enough to get out of trouble.
Pools are thankful that they
recently took nine points from
nine to move away from danger.
They did start this game in a
satisfactory manner, but soon allowed
Crewe to get on top.
Wilson's side didn't really create
much throughout and even
when on top, their sole opening
came from an Antony Sweeney
volley which angled over.
When Crewe put the ball into
the area, courtesy of a Joel
Porter deflection, Nicky Maynard
got in first to prod in.
When the striker had the simplest
of tasks to tap into an
empty net after Tom Pope's header
hit a post, Pools were two goals
down with an hour to play.
Joel Porter did get one back,
confidently finishing after collecting
James Brown's flick.
But Pools let themselves down,
conceding again when Pope got
in a header from eight yards.
"We looked like we had started
to turn the corner away from
home,'' said Wilson.
"We started the game well and
then took our foot off the gas and
conceded goals from nothing
again.
"I'm fed up of saying it and it's
demoralising at times. This game
was there for us if we had kept up
the way we started, but instead
we didn't defend in critical situations
or at critical times in games
so the damage is over before halftime.
"Second half, we came out for
half an hour and did OK - at least
we showed a bit of willingness,
but then we concede another soft
one. It's the scenario we have
seen.
"It's no cruel, it's not about
feeling sorry for ourselves, we
don't deal with situations and
pay the price.
"Concentration goes out of the
window and, because we started
well, ideas go out of the window
and we concede again. We switch
off and that's why we have conceded
so many goals away from
home this season.
"They haven't let me down,
they have let themselves down
again - you can look at each goal
and pick a decision made which
has been made wrongly. We
haven't picked a run up or made
the right decisions.
"You see decisions made by
other defenders and they don't
have to be clever, they just come
in and bump, do the job with ball
and man, no matter how it looks
- we don't do that.''
6:07pm Saturday 22nd March 2008
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