David Foley had a hand in all three goals. That's the bit you no doubt all wanted to hear.

The game kicked off 15 minutes late, which is just as well because that's how long it took me to find the away turnstile despite parking just over the road from the stadium. We were in a corner stand, and the nearest we could get to the pitch was about 30 yards from the corner flag! I know Rotherham didn't have much choice in the matter, but as a football venue the DVS is dire.

In brief, Pools weren't all that good, though we were a sight better than Rotherham. We scored three goals but should have been looking at six. James Brown wanted to run with the ball in good shooting positions and shoot in good running positions. Porter showed some nice touches at times but they were too rare and he didn't look hungry for the ball. Foley was the most active man up front but was too reluctant to (a) take men on and (b) cross the ball. The first time he did (a) we got a penner. The first time he did (b) it landed perfectly for Ben Clark.
Monkhouse was all right and did look interested. Humphreys had a good game except for going AWOL when their winger got the ball to set up their second. All the rest were average, with nobody playing really badly except perhaps for Lee Barratt and nobody shining. Jones didn't look anything special. Power only got about 25 minutes, during which the only thing of note he did was banjax the fook out of one of their players. He was lucky to get away with a verbal caution. I don't know who our No. 16 (big blond youngster) was but he looked very confident.

Their first goal was down to dire defending. They were clean through but ALB saved the shot ... then lost the ball so they said ta very much and scored.

Their second was one of the strangest goals I've seen. A cross came in, their forward struck it, and ALB went down on it in front of goal to save it. There were in fact three players on the ground where the ball was, one of them theirs. Then the ball just seemed to pop out of the scrum and into the net. Being 60 yards diagonally behind the action, we of course didn't see what really happened.

Still, three goals is three goals, but like I said in a previous post, if we have to get three goals every time to get the points then our defence is just not up to it. I guess we mounted about 40 attacks to their 10, but every time they did attack I was as nervous as hell.

Edit: apparently our No. 16 was McCunnie.

Aye Mccunie had blonde hair for Newcastle game.

You say Power got 25minutes but came on after 54 and Mccunnie came on with 19mins left. Are you getting them mixed up?

Mccunnie also aint big where as Power is a little overweght.

No, I recognised Power's portly silhouette immediately. So it was 35 minutes. I didn't have a watch *shrug*.
McCunnie's bigness is perhaps purely relative, after all his midfield partners were Power, Robson, and Foley!

This is not a dig at Humphreys cos he just ain't a defender but this is why the left back position worries the shite out of me. Up against a poor fourth division side this happens so what do you think the likes of Leicester will do to us.

Danny GET A LEFT BACK!!

Will the blond hair help him to deal with the long diagonal balls?

He did it once but in the rest of the game he did everything expected of him and more. Probably our best player. I've no idea what he was doing on the one occasion he went missing but he was nowhere near the action.

Individual performances.

ALB........had very little to do really, apart from three occasions. In two of them he spilled the ball leading to both their goals and the third he saved with his legs when their lad looked certain to score.
Liddle.........played right back and did the job very well.
Humps.........had a good game. Although their second goal came from a cross from the right, the cross was provided by their full back after a superb crossfield ball.
Nelson..........won everything in the air and nothing on the ground. Got turned too many times for me and his distribution was woeful, until Collins came on and sorted him out.
Clark.............had a solid game and took his goal well.
Foley..........probably the best game I have seen him play in the first team. Took people on, after a nervy start, and his crossing caused havoc in the Rotherham defence.
Jones..... wasn't impressed and he needs to improve. Got some nice control but gives it away in dangerous positions, which will be punished by the better teams.
Boland........probably had more of the ball than any other player on the pitch and actually played it forward more than he usually does. Tired a bit I thought as the game progressed.
Monkhouse.........played ok but that's all. Didn't penetrate enough. I don't know whether he is playing to orders but his mazy runs seem to have disappeared.
Brown.........one word, brilliant. Could have had a hat trick at least.
Porter..........could have got a bit nearer to a couple of Foley crosses and gave it away whilst under no pressure. Definite room for improvement.
Subs.
Barker.......usual hard working performance.
Sweeney............got forward more than Liddle but wasn't as effective at the primary right back role, ie defending.
Power.............looks useful but was a bit subdued after a long lecture from the ref. Good on the ball and is prepared to mix it.
McCunnie...........played well in the short time he was on.
Robson.........did his bit and didn't let anyone down.
Collins......... steady, but I am a bit nervy at our lack of pace in central defence.

We were far better than Rotherham but tried to make the game look more even than it actually was by giving away our usual sloppy goals, but I left the ground (?) with a fair degree of optimism.
A word on the ground..................it is not and never will be a football stadium. However as beggars can't be choosers it will have to do for the Millers. I wouldn't like to have to watch every home game at that place.

Where were you sitting, Tickhill? I was in the second row from the front, near the right hand end. Black windcheater, glasses...

I think we should be more worried about the goalkeeping position - I have never been convinced about ALB and the comments on todays game seem to confirm my worries. Budtz is even worse. I fear this will be our biggest problem again next season.

Wilson will just play barker in goal in order to guarantee him a starting place so dont worry!

About half way up, also at the right hand side. Were you on your own? There were three of us. Me, our lass and the bairn.

Yep that was me. I can't honestly say I noticed many people behind me, though given how few of us there were I could probably have memorised everyone in our enclosure by sight!

Aye, we definitely weren't there in our thousands. I was stood near you at the end of half time drinking a coffee and chatting to a steward.

is the don valley stadium similar to Brighton's Withdean Stadium?

I was getting all optomistic, the first match report I read was this...

http://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/hufc/Rotherham-2-Hartlepool-United-3.4352589.jp

Doesn't sound quite the same as the 'real' match report.

in terms of appearance for a football ground, it probably is. However at least Brighton's ground is always full and their fans DO manage to generate a racket, even without much cover.Also it is located in their home city.

Where Rotherham are playing is quite a vast arena not even in their own town, and atmosphere will be at a premium.

I would imagine it being the least intimidating ground to visit this year, and an easy 3 points for many away sides as it will be more like a neutral venue if anything.

They left Millmoor for financial reasons, however they'll come to regret this as at least they were hard to beat there.

Rotherham will be a non-league club in 12 months time.

Arnt Rotherham being deducted 20 points

It's big, it's impressive, but its an athletics stadium. There is one huge covered stand all along one side. Between that stand and the grass there is a ten lane running track plus two long jump/triple jump runways, plus space to spare. There are two detached bits of the main stand in either corner. All the rest is open to the sky, and yesterday at least it was closed off. One of the corner stands was the away enclosure. We just had the top half of this stand but in the top and bottom halves combined there are probably 1000 seats.
Even with Rotherham's biggest crowd and biggest away supporter contingent, there's never going to be more that one side of the ground occupied, and even that won't be full. The place is as anti-atmosphere a stadium as you're likely to find anywhere.

and there's the rub

I have worked at Don Valley twice, once on the Paul Weller 'Day At The Races' tour and once for errmmm.....Michael Jackson.......it pissed it down both times.........It was built for the World Student Games and Sheffield naively thought they'd get the Commonwealth Games or maybe even the Olympics on the strength of that. Now, I think Sheffield Eagles, the Rugby League team who played there have gone out of business as well, so it's just a millstone round the councils neck.

Smells like Darlo to me....