A strange feeling for Sweeney
Bristol Rovers 0 Hartlepool United 0
ON Grand National day 2007, Hartlepool United were at the head of the field as they leaped out of League Two in winning promotion.
They enjoyed a 1-0 victory and celebration at Wycombe as Silver Birch was winning at Aintree.
On the same day this year, while Comply or Die was heading for the winning post, Pools season was again neatly summed up on the biggest racing day of the year: part of the pack which started off OK, but never really threatened the lead before muddling across the finishing line without being noticed.
In drawing at Bristol Rovers, there was none of the joy which heralded victory after Richard Barker's headed winner 12 months previously.
As far as end of season games go, this was it.
Pools first 0-0 draw in 72 games, the last being the stalemate with Darlington at Victoria Park in October 2006, wasn't the best of spectacles on a pitch which won't be winning any awards.
On Saturday, as Pools meet relegation-threatened Millwall at Victoria Park, their season could be officially mathematically over.
Nine points from the drop zone with 12 to play for, if Pools better the results of either Gillingham or Crewe, getting dragged into the bottom four won't happen.
Eleven points from the play-offs, if Leeds better Pools result there's no top seven finish on the agenda this season.
"Maybe this game was a case of 'boring, boring Pools' for the first time in a long time,'' admitted midfielder Antony Sweeney, who started in central midfield days after he signed a new contract at Victoria Park.
"It was a tough one with both defences on top and not many chances created.''
He added: "It's a strange one for us as we don't have anything to play for in the last few games. I think the gaffer worried everyone after the game when he told us we weren't mathematically safe just yet.
"But we are nearly there and one more win will do us, hopefully that will come at the weekend.
"Saying that it would take some strange set of results and a catastrophe for us to get involved now. There was a time not so long ago when it looked like we would be in trouble, so with having nothing to play for at the end of the season is a bit of a bonus.
"Bournemouth could have been our turning point, especially after we lost to one of the bottom teams in the division. We had a seven-hour coach journey home afterwards and a lot of time to reflect.
"We had training on the Monday and the thought of putting things right spurred us on. We went to Oldham and won which turned things around for us.''
Winning at Boundary Park kick-started a run of four wins from six which has proved imperative in maintaining League One status.
Neither side really looked like winning this one. Pools had the two clearest chances, Pools keeper made the game's best save.
Joel Porter and Ritchie Humphreys created and then squandered the openings.
First Porter picked up the ball and raced into the area to get on the end of Andy Monkhouse's deft flick.
As he gathered possession, perhaps David Foley was in his flight path as he pushed a volley wide from an inviting spot.
Then, in the closing stages, Porter did the Monkhouse job and flicked for Humphreys. After bursting into the area, his left footed shot was screwed wide.
Arran Lee-Barrett's best moment of a solid display came when he dived low to his right to push out a goalbound shot by Andy Williams.
An impeccable sliding tackle inside the penalty area by Micky Nelson on Andy Williams may have had Pools worried after the events of seven days previous, but on his occasion Jernail Singh got it spot on and waved away the same sort of half-hearted appeals which were enough for Swansea to get a spot-kick at Victoria Park.
As far as openings go, that was about it. Fair to say there wasn't much excitement on offer for the hen party, who opted to spend their day at the Memorial Stadium. Surely there's better ways to spend your last weekend of freedon.
And now, Pools can start their planning for next season.
"We've done well in this division before but this season has been a bit up and down,'' admitted Sweeney.
"Maybe there has been games when we have turned up and thought we could win games. But it's not like that is it?
"We did well against Swansea last weekend and I don't think there's any arguments that they are the best team in the division.
"We seem to do well against the more fancied teams and it's against the likes of Crewe and Bournemouth when we seem to let ourselves down a little bit.
"We need to sort that side of our game out.
"Looking to next season we can use this season as a good experience. When you come up from the division below it's about adapting to the new league and getting used to it.
"We have done well in the past and made the play-offs but it hasn't happened this time. First and foremost the aim is to stay in the division and see where it takes you.
"We have ambitious players at the club and an ambitious management team. Right from day one everyone wanted to be higher than we are.
"It hasn't worked out like that for us this season has it? It's not the end of the season yet and we will build on this season.''
2:02am Monday 7th April 2008
Print 
Email this 
Comment
What are these links for?
If you liked this article and would like to share it with others on the web who might be searching for good content we've made it easy for you to do it.
At the bottom of all articles, you'll see links to six sites. These sites - commonly called 'social bookmark' or 'social news' sites - have large communities of web users who share and rate interesting, useful and fun things on the web.
Clicking the links will automatically add the address of the story you are reading to one of these sites, letting you share it with others. Each site will ask you to register to share stories. Registration is free and once a member, you can store, recommend and search for stories that interest you.
More on Digg
More on del.icio.us
More on Furl
More on reddit
More on NowPublic/
More on Yahoo!
