By Albatross
November 6 2005

Hartlepool United's reward for beating Dagenham and Redbridge is another home tie against a Conference side. This time it's Tamworth - nickname the Lambs - that will be our opponents: and there will be at least one vaguely familiar face to Poolies of a decade's experience. Tamworth are currently in the bottom three of the Conference, and would no doubt have preferred a home tie. However, having advanced to this stage courtesy of a 2-1 win at Bournemouth they will not come up to Pools without hope.

One thing which may add a little more spice to the tie is the Tamworth manager. He's Mark Cooper, and he played for Pools in the 1996/7 season where he finished joint top scorer in the League with nine. However he wasn't happy at Pools, and moved to Orient the following season. Mickey Barron is the only player still at Pools that played in the same side as Cooper. Now 36, he's still registered as a player and played in the win over Bournemouth.

The game is due to take place at the Vic on 3rd December, TV permitting.