By Albatross
September 11 2004

It was a poor performance at Boundary Park for Hartlepool United, as they went down 3-2 to Oldham Athletic - a scoreline that flattered a disappointing Pools side. Albatross reports on the game - just don't mention the band... Cooper had to shuffle his pack and then some for this game, and there were surprises on the pitch and on the bench. Craddock started at right back, but the Midfield was seriously remodelled: Sweeney retained his place, but Strachan was dropped to make way for Pouton; the other new boy, Woods, started on the left, and Richie Humphreys started on the right. Up front Boyd was partnered by Foley, while on the bench were Konstantopoulos, Istead, Appleby, Strachan and Tinkler. For Oldham, Betsy lined up on the right.

There were a few questioning glances over to our left as what we thought might be the Half-time entertainment seemed to be setting up - some sort of youth brass band. Also attracting a few glances ten minutes before kickoff was someone I immediately described in my mind as "Patricia the Stripper" - a lad wearing fishnets, a feather boa, and a large curly blond wig. Lost bet or Stag weekend? Who knows?

Pools third strip turned out to be red shirts and white shorts: from the stand the vaunted Short Sponsorship was impossible to read though!

Oldham kicked off attacking towards the Pools fans, but it was Pools that were first to show: a swift move down the right gave Humphreys the chance to get a cross in that was blocked; shortly after another attack gave Nelson the chance to play a ball in that Pogliacomi fumbled before getting under control.

Eyre then put Provett under pressure at the other end, causing Prov to need two attempts to gather the ball; Eyre went down apparently injured despite the challenge being innocuous and took a while to pick himself up.

At this point the Band let us know why they were there, starting up to the general bewilderment of all concerned. If it was an attempt to get the home fans singing it was a notable disaster; once the Poolies had got over the strangeness of having accompaniment, it was the away fans making themselves heard!

On 5 minutes Nelson slipped in the act of making a challenge in the box, and although Westwood cleared the ball, Nelson stayed down, and needed treatment before he was able to continue. At this point 3-4 fans were also ejected by the police and stewards for persistently standing up - which together with a not entirely friendly response to the (presumably) be-tied teacher conducting the band was conspiring to make the atmosphere in the away end far from benign. Fortunately things calmed down after this interruption.

The first half to be honest was a rather dour affair, with chances at both ends at a premium. Oldham looked slightly more polished, and the continual (and inevitable) booing of Betsy seemed to be inspiring him to cause Matty Robson a few problems. Nelson had to make a great saving tackle on Boshell in the box on the quarter hour, shortly after Pouton did well to send Boyd away but despite playing Humphreys through Pools couldn't produce a final ball worthy of the name.

Oldham were having the best of what chances there were, and after Boshell put a dubiuouly awarded free kick well wide on 22 minutes, Betsy almost got on the end of a cross from the left - only for Nelson to intervene after the former Pools player had headed the ball down. Provett had to palm the resulting corner away from just under his bar before Sweeney lumped the ball clear.

Robson had an opportunity to deliver a free kick into the box on 27 minutes; his curling ball from the left went out for a throw to Pools on the other side that was taken quickly to allow Humphreys to get in a good (right footed!) cross to the near post that was blocked.

We then had the somewhat surreal experience of Oldham attacking to musical accompaniment, something that seemed very wrong and certainly not adding to the atmosphere. Betsy made a good run down the right on 31 minutes and saw his cross headed behind at the near post. Pools broke away from the corner through Humphreys, who was promptly penalised for a handball that to my eyes seemed to be the other way; however Eyres' ball into the box only found Holden pushing over Woods to concede a free kick the other way.

Robson required treatment on 40 minutes after chasing down a channel ball with Betsy - although Betsy was booed there seemed to be no foul and none was given - and as he received treatment Pools cleared the resulting corner through Nelson.

Disaster struck though on 42 minutes. A long ball from the back went over Westwood, and Nelson contrived to miss what should have been a straightforward header to leave EYRE free to beat Provett comfortably. Pools tried to strike back before the break with Pouton trying to play the ball in for Boyd but to no avail.

Half time then, and as the band packed up and left and Tinkler tried chatting up "Patricia" I reflected that Pools could have few complaints. We'd looked disjointed in the midfield, and Boyd and Foley were getting little service; Oldham had shown more cohesion, and with Betsy fired up were looking more dangerous. We'd need to raise our game to take anything from this one - and with a somewhat makeshift lineup that would be no mean feat.

The signs after the break though were ominous. Pools lost the ball soon after kicking off towards us, and Oldham advanced down the right; a cross was swung in for 40 year-old David Eyres to head against the bar.

As Pools looked to counter-attack through Robson, he found himself once more tangling with Betsy, who fell over and grabbed the ball - and was promptly given the decision despite the lack of a foul. It was to be honest symptomatic of an officious Ref that made more than the odd error. Betsy was involved again shortly after, picking Eyres out with a crossfield ball for the veteran to shoot into the side netting.

A free kick from Robson on the right almost provided Pools with an opportunity with Westie not quite able to get on the end of it; but shortly after Betsy yet again got a cross in, yet again to Eyres on the far side, and Eyres seemed to hit a combination of post and bar before the ball was scrambled away off the line.

At last Pools put together a decent attack on 53 minutes; Pouton was the architect, picking out Foley who held on to the ball well before laying it off to the right; Humphreys cross in found the head of Woods, but he could only direct the ball just over the bar.

Pools were starting to come back into the game a little, but too often were struggling to either produce a clear-cut opportunity or shoot when they did. Foley in particular was showing some good control, but no-one seemed to be taking responsibility to shoot.

It was cruel then that Oldham were the next team to score - and crueller that it was the player who turned us down last week. Betsy collected the ball on the right flank, cut inside past Westwood and unleashed an unstoppable 20 yard shot into the opposite top corner to put Pools 2-0 down.

Oldham then replaced Bonner with Jermaine Johnson, and some more hesitant defending allowed Killen to get a shot in that Provett comfortably saved. Oldham were having a real purple patch, making the Pools players look like they were chasing shadows at one point and probing constantly for further openings. Cooper decided to make some changes, and so Appleby and Tinkler replaced Nelson and Woods; the Leeds man had a reasonable debut but was sacrificed as Pools went to effectively three up front - a sort of 3-4-3 formation with Boyd dropping just behind the front two.

Appleby's introduction to the game was marked by the first booking. Holden slid in on Appleby and deservedly saw yellow. Three minutes later Appleby did well to collect the ball, shield it and then lay off for Boyd to shoot from 20 yards and finally force a save from Pogliacomi. It had taken us almost 70 minutes.

Pools finally started to produce some better football, and attacked with more purpose - but again no-one seemed willing to have a shot. Betsy broke quickly to put a dangerous cross in on 73 minutes, but Pools were soon back on the attack - and failing to shoot. It looked like we might never shoot at all, and it took an unlikely source to show the forwards how to do it on 77 minutes; after a Pools attack broke down, the ball was collected by CHRIS WESTWOOD; from fully 35 yards out he drilled in a powerful shot that nestled in the bottom corner. A quite superb goal, and finally we had something to cheer about!

Foley was replaced by Istead, but Pools were about to hit the destruct button again. Robson was being encouraged to maraud forward, but this meant that when a poor ball for him to chase was collected by an Oldham player, he was well out of position with little cover. Betsy took full advantage, and he crossed for JOHNSON to fire into the roof of the net. 3-1 then, and back to square one. This was enough for some of the away fans, as several - including "Patricia" - departed at this point.

Killen was replaced by Barlow, as Pools once again attacked without causing real difficulties for Pogliacomi. Tinkler saw a shot deflected behind for a corner, and when that was cleared Johnson found himself haring through on goal. Robson did very well to get in a couple of half-challenges that gave Provett the chance to get there and end the danger.

Pools continued to try and find a way back into the game, and with normal time almost up were gifted another goal. Robson crossed in from deep on the left, and GRIFFIN made a complete horlicks of his header to put the ball past his own keeper. Pouton was quick to try and collect the ball to restart as soon as possible, and Haining was spoken to by the Ref after deciding to delay things with a little light grappling in the goalmouth.

Pools though couldn't earn a point in added time, with a quick break that lead to a Boyd corner that drifted out of play our last chance; but to be honest it would have been more than we deserved.

3-2 flattered Pools. We were second best for much of the match, seemed scared to shoot when we did get forward, and our midfield looked exactly what it was - makeshift, with two players that hadn't really had a chance to blend in with the rest of the side. Pouton showed some good passing skills, and Humphreys did surprisingly well on the right - but we simply lacked the cohesion that Oldham showed there, and that was what won them the game in combination with an on-form Betsy that won the Man of the Match award (to general booing from the away fans). It took a superb effort from Westwood and an own goal to give the scoreline respectability, and at one point I feared that this could be another game like Blackpool last season. Foley and Boyd were starved of service much of the time, and although Robson did tolerably well he found himself isolated once too often when we changed system.

There were a small minority at the game that seemed to want to blame everything on IOR and their cheque-book - or lack of one; though quite where we are going to find a multi-millionaire who wants to invest his fortune in us I don't know, and given we had two new players, albeit on loan, on the pitch it seemed more than a little harsh. There's no hiding that Cooper is close to the bare bones at the moment though, and unless we can get some of our injured players back in action quickly we are going to lose more ground on the top sides in the division.