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Two to go ... now Pools know where they stand

Dimi - coming home?
By Clarence Rode
April 22 2009
With Hereford and Cheltenham unable to catch them, Hartlepool now know the mathematics behind their League One survival hopes. Last weekend’s brilliantly-timed win at Yeovil put them on 50 points, and a point or two from their games at home to Leeds on Saturday and at Bristol Rovers a week later will do the job - then they can start planning for next season.
But even if they lose them both, they know they will finish above Carlisle and Crewe if they fail to win both their remaining games. The same applies to Northampton, but the Cobblers have three games left.
They, Carlisle and Crewe are four points behind Pools, but that is as good as five points in two out of three cases when goal difference is taken into account.
On Tuesday night, Brighton got out of the bottom our with a 2-1 win at Bristol Rovers and are now two points behind Pools, while on the same night Yeovil were held to 2-2 at home by Hereford while Northampton drew 3-3 at home to Tranmere.
The games that matter now are: Pools – Leeds (h), Bristol Rov (a)
Yeovil – Tranmere (a), Colchester (h)
Swindon – Bristol Rov (h), Peterborough (a)
Brighton – Huddersfield (a), Stockport (h)
Northampton – Hereford (h), MK Dons (h), Leeds (a)
Carlisle – Cheltenham (a), Millwall (h)
Crewe – Stockport (a), Leicester (h) Predicting the outcome of that little lot is not easy, but our guess is:
Yeovil will lose at Tranmere and at least draw against Colchester
Swindon will get something at home to Rovers, but lose at Peterborough
Brighton will lose at Huddersfield and get a result at home to Stockport
Northampton will beat Hereford, lose at home to Dons and at Leeds
Carlisle will get something at Cheltenham, but lose at home to Millwall
Crewe will lose to both Stockport and Leicester
 

Carlisle and Crewe will therefore join Cheltenham and Hereford in League Two, Pools will survive (just) and then all the rumours and guesses about who is going to be manger next season and whether it’s true that Adam Boyd, Tommy Miller and Dimi Konstantopoulos are coming back will be put to the test.

Meanwhile, there’s a game against Leeds as the curtain comes down on the season at the Vic.
Leeds are guaranteed a play-off place, so hopefully they’ll take it easy and give a few players a rest, but that’s not guaranteed of course.

Pools will be keen on ending a see-saw season on a high note in front of their own fans, but it’s in Leeds’s interests to finish as high as they can – third top plays sixth top, with the second leg at home, while fourth plays fifth, second leg at home.
It's still going to be tight in the next two weeks.

  

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