By Albatross
October 28 2005

Hartlepool United travel to Port Vale hoping to repeat their successes of the last couple of seasons. Our opponents though are currently in decent form and sit in a playoff place. Can Pools pull off a victory against the odds? First a bit of travel information: apparently there's a Bus Strike in the Potteries tommorrow, meaning there may well be more cars about than normal so those driving to the game may need to arrive a little earlier. Anyone inteding on hopping on a bus to or from the station will have to find a taxi fare....

Vale are currently at the right end of the table in 6th place, and will provide a tough challenge for Pools. Martin Foyle seems to have them moving in the right direction again after spending most of last season in the doldrums, and they are currently one of the form sides in the division - a win for them on Saturday would see Foyle in with a chance of collecting the Manager of the Month award.

All this is despite having a pretty torrid time of it in September, when a run of three successive defeats (including at home to Colchester) was only halted by the emergence of Chris Cornes. The former Wolves trainee scored his first goals for the club to earn a draw at Oldham, and then bagged the winning goal in the next two games against Walsall and Swindon to help them get back on track. Although they lost their last game at Vale Park to Bradford, a win on the road last week against Bournemouth has helped them stay in a playoff battle that few predicted before the start of the season.

Former Plymouth striker Nathan Lowndes is top scorer for the valiants with 5, while Cornes is just one behind; but it's their defence that's the foundation of their success this season. So far they have conceded just 16 goals in 15 games - and have only scored two more than that themselves. Mark Goodlad in goal has seen his defensive unit - including Tony Dinning and Sam Collins - performing admirably. Further up the field, their striking options received a blow when summer capture from Wrexham Hector Sam broke his leg at Rotherham in the Carling Cup 1st round - he looks unlikely to return until New Year. Add in the fact that Billy Paynter continues to attract interest from other clubs (Sheffield Wednesday are the latest rumoured suitors) and it's probably a good job that the defence has been on form.

With Lee Matthews and Michael Walsh joining Sam as long-term injuries, the good news for Vale is that Robin Hulbert has recovered and is available for selection. As much as anything, that may explain why Darrell Clarke has returned to Pools - although there are two other loan players in the home team's squad in the form of Michael Husbands (Walsall) and Gary Mulligan (Sheff Utd).

For Pools, suspensions as well as injuries are a limiting factor. Nelson sits out the final game of his suspension, while Tinkler starts his ban and Ben Clark is missing too. On the injury front, Barron may be considered after playing most of the reserve team game in midweek before heading off to his testimonial dinner; Hugh Robertson also played some of that game but is still some way off match fitness. There's also been no news on Michael Proctor since he went off at half time of the defeat at Forest, other than the fact that he picked up a groin strain in that match. Our other long-term injured players are still out for some time - Boyd, Porter, Robson and Brown - while Carl Jones looks set to be out for some time to come as well.

4-5-1 looks the most likely lineup to me, with mainly the same team as last week. Turnbull will probably retain his place, while I would expect Eifion Williams to move out to the right flank and possibly Bullock to replace Llewellyn. Although there's been some talk about Darrell Clarke making a return, I doubt he'll get beyond the bench at best.

Pools have won at Vale Park in both of the last two seasons, including the Winter Wonderland 5-2 victory two season back; can we make it a hat-trick? It's not impossible, but Vale are looking to be a solid unit if not exactly an exciting one and it would probably be a case of grinding out a result rather than a goal-filled spectacular. Vale are favourites and with reason given our respective positions, but if we can get a victory there there's a chance we can get some momentum going and possibly climb the table. However, I'll go for a 1-1 draw, Butler to score the goal for Pools.