By Albatross
October 7 2005

Hartlepool United didn't exactly pull up any trees in September; despite this, there is still plenty to play for. The division looks very tight, and the contenders at each end are in the main still not obvious. The general feeling seems to be that Pools underperformed in September; only the 17th best record, with just one league win (at Blackpool) to celebrate. No such problems for Southend United though: a 100% record lifted the side many picked for relegation into 2nd place in the table, and netted Steve Tilson a deserved Manager of the Month award.

Tilson was an easy choice for the committee; the next best team, Swansea, earned four points less from their five games although they did go unbeaten together with Bradford and Colchester. Meanwhile, at the other end of the form table Swindon lost every game and cost Andy King his job. Tranmere also failed to record a win during the month.

One or two teams did show plenty of improvement though. Despite losing Gary Johnson to Bristol City, Yeovil showed signs that they have found their feet with three wins; Doncaster and Colchester also pulled back some ground lost at the start of the season by earning nine points each from five games.

So how did the table look at month end - before last Saturday's matches? Well, three teams were level on 23 points, and two of them - newly promoted Swansea (top) and Southend (second) are performing well above expectations. Huddersfield are the other team, although that's maybe slightly less of a surprise given their finish to last season. There was then a five point gap to Brentford, but teams as far down as Blackpool in 16th were within three points of the top six. Pools were in 22nd, but overall the division is looking a very tight one - our win last weekend lifted us up to 18th, and a couple more wins could easily take us into the top half. Below us, Swindon need to stage a recovery if they want to avoid a season spent struggling against relegation, while MK Franchise are currently just about hanging on to the coat-tails of the teams in front of them.

By this point of the season you can often tell who the contenders are going to be at each end - but so far the picture remains confused. The current top four will be hoping to maintain their form and challenge, but beyond them almost every side will feel that all they need to do is string some results together. At the other end only Swindon look in danger of being cast adrift, and a poor run of form for any of about 15 other teams could see them struggling near the foot of the table. Will October see a pattern emerge?