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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2009:03:06:19:55:42 by Deadly Submarine.

I've gone for a 2-1 defeat on the basis of our recent poor record at Hartlepool.

Go on Rovers, prove me wrong!

Big game, need to pick up as many points as we can from every game left this season and three points tonight would be invaluable.

I've gone for a 1-1 draw though!

2-1 win, come on lads you've got to be more optimistic than that!

lets hope they get the result.

i would have gone with

acheterberg
edds, kay, chorley, taylor
barnett, jeno, henry, cresswell
gornell, moore

but instead hes gone with sonko instead of cresswell and shuker instead of gornell, lets hope hes right.

ben chorley

Surely Ronnie needs to speak to kay about his discipline, i know i dont have much right to speak as i'm not there right now but 2 penalties he's brought about, that speaks for itself

Official site said it was Taylor.

it was andy taylor who gave the penalty away not tony kay

RM said it was a bad decision,he said we had a better penalty claim turned down,how many points have bad refereeing decisions cost us this season? & why do we find it hard to get awarded penalties,but easy to concede them?Goodison shouldn't have been sent off last week,the lad went down far too easily!!But it's not just refs,our defenders have scored more goals this season than our strikers!I know we have been without Greenacre & Curran,but we keep playing Savage who is crap,& not giving the youngsters a chance,Gornell has impressed when given the chance,then he gets 5 minutes 2nite,

OK it's late and I'm tired but here we go...

Firstly we had a fantastic day out with many funny stories to tell but for now I will talk about the game.

The major factor in the game was the wind which for the team kicking away from us visiting fans was a menace all night.

First half Achterberg's goal-kicks were coming back at him and the same can be said for the Pools Keeper in the second half.

This meant that we struggled (against a poor side I have to add) to make any progress in the first half by trying to play the ball high and I remember saying to Matt that if we could get through to half-time without conceding we'd have a great chance in the second as they faced the wind.

As it turned out I was right and we dominated the second half from start to finish. Achterberg was never really tested and their only two chances they took.

Their first goal looked a great strike from the other end of the Stadium where we were but the fact that Achto dived totally the wrong way suggests it took a deflection.

Chorley's header just a minute later looped up in the wind and dropped over the Keeper before the penalty came.

From where we were (at the other end as I say) it looked a free-kick as it was certainly borderline to the penalty area and the protests of our players and their pointing would suggest they thought the same.

As for our Team, Moore had a quiet first half due to lack of service but was excellent second half although he should probably have done better when he got through on goal but was denied by the Keeper's narrowing the angle and then a defenders arm (we thought).

Shuker and Sonko were awful tonight (more on that on another thread) and that meant the attacking supply was extremely limited.

Man of the Match would be Edds or Barnett for me but it was the failure to take chances that cost us again tonight although the reason Gornell didn't start is a mystery as is the fact that he didn't come on until six minutes remained and we were 2-1 down.

I hate Hartlepool and to be quite honest never want to go there again. Four visits have seen three defeats and a 0-0 draw and its always cold and wet!

I'd have taken a point from this before tonight but even if we'd drawn I'd thought it was harsh on us in the end but that's the way it goes.

Prior to tonight I would have said three points from the two away games would be OK so fingers crossed for Saturday!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2009:03:04:02:08:04 by Deadly Submarine.

I have to add that good though Edds played tonight, losing Shotton before kick-off was a blow as we already had reduced set-piece options without the height of Goodison and Savage.

When Ian Moore went down in the second half it definately wasn't a penalty! He went down at the wrong angle compared to where the defender was and was definately a dive in my opinion.

Can't comment on their penalty as we were down the other end but the reaction of our players suggested it certainly wasn't a penalty!

Disappointing result but an impressive performance and we really deserved to win. If our wingers had been half good we might have won, but they were dire, absolutely wank.

Nope not a penalty at all for the Moore thing in my view!

The wingers were both poor together at Yeovil to this season - with the same outcome then (although the squad was flu affected that day to be fair).

You're not going to win games when you have two wingers who can't control the ball, let alone beat their man or put the ball into the box.

For those who haven't seen the goals from Tuesday, here they are....

Link: Hartlepool Highlights

The penalty was given away by Paul Henry and looked a definite penalty now that I've seen it again!