Last weekend’s goalless draw at Exeter won’t live long in the memory as a classic game, but the result was an important one for Cooper as he continues to rebuild the team’s confidence which had been shattered by that awful run of nine consecutive home defeats.

A result against Sheffield Wednesday will provide further evidence that whatever Cooper is doing is working.

Cooper says he will build his team on a Pools defence he rates highly and told the Mail:  “As soon as I came in I liked the defenders and the goalkeeper.  

“They admitted themselves that they hadn’t been up to scratch, but what we’ve seen in the last two games is a massive improvement and two clean sheets, which means you’re guaranteed a return from the game.

“It’s then up to us to make something happen at the other end and that’s an area we can work on.”

It didn’t need a genius to work out that Pools didn’t score enough goals and that they wasted too many chances, and Cooper identified a lack of pace as one of the team’s major faults.

The chances given to teenagers like Luke James, Jack Baldwin and Callum Hassan have gone some way towards making up for the absence through injury of James Poole, whose pace and goals will always be missed.

But Cooper warns: “I’ve been there myself as a youngster coming into a team and you can be in and out, up and down. That’s to be expected and it’s all part of the learning process.

“Jack and Luke have come in and have done excellently, they really have.

“But they will have off days, older players do as well, and you can’t expect too much from them over a long period at this stage.”

At the other end of the experience scale, the manager was relieved to see the form of skipper Sam Collins at Exeter. The defender picked up a foot injury on his team’s last visit to Sheffield, the New Year’s Eve defeat at United, and thought he might be out for weeks.

But he was back with a week and Cooper said: “He has come back in after a nasty foot injury and has been outstanding – that’s the sort of player you want in your team.” 

Wednesday aren’t doing quite as well as their city neighbours, but they are still fourth top and won all but three of their 12 home games so far this season, drawing two and losing just one.

A result for Pools there really would be something.

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Major test for Pools away form

Posted by: The Box of Kippers (IP Logged)

Date: 19/01/2012 10:36

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