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Pools look safe, but final games still important

James Brown - fit
By Clarence Rode March 21 2008
Look at the League One table, and it appears Hartlepool have little or nothing to play for in their final eight games of the season. But there's still plenty of incentive to do well, starting at Crewe on Saturday with manager Danny Wilson calling for his players to maintain their recent improved form as they try to end their see-saw season on a bright note.
With Ben Clark making a welcome return as a sub at Tranmere last weekend, Wilson could also be able to call on James Brown and top scorer Richard Barker at Gresty Road.
Brown scored on his return from a knee injury with the reserves in midweek, while Barker has also returned to training.
But Wilson does have an injury problem, with Sam Collins struggling to recover from the knock he took in last weekend's defeat at Tranmere.
Humphreys (front)After three consecutive wins, that result dented Pools recent revival, but skipper Richie Humphreys (right) told the Northern Echo: "We've still plenty of points to play for, let's see where we end up. It's a tough task to make the top few places, but what we have done is made sure we aren't looking over our shoulders with five games to go.
"We aren't mathematically safe yet, but we won't get carried away. You have to do the rubbish things in football - like the first 15 minutes the other week against Huddersfield when it was blowing a gale and I thought my arms were going to drop off.
"And it's doing things like that which keep you going. At Oldham we didn't do anything special or our of the ordinary, we ground it out and that was a big turning point for us.
"Performance wise we are now a million miles away from what we were at Bournemouth. We have created a lot of chances of late, and we have scored more at home than anyone else in the division.''
Pools return home on Easter Monday, when Yeovil visit the Vic, and that's followed next Saturday with a home game against runaway leaders Swansea.

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