Might be an interesting pointer into how tight this division is going to be; today there were lots of draws and no team won by more than one clear goal.

From what I watched today we will be more than a match for anyone in this league. On the day as a team we where far more impressive than Luton, and they are a fancied you only have to look at the squad to see why. We have nothing to fear, as a fan today I enjoyed that match more than some of our wins last season in the cloggers league as at least we where watching a game in a full ground on a good surface with BOTH teams playing football.

You enjoyed yesterday more than some of the wins against cloggers You must be easily pleased. I was fooooking pig sick.

No sorry, il go and spend a 100 notes every other week and come home with a smile on my face every time we get beat even though we beat Cheltenham the week before 5-0 and it was shoite

I didn't say I enjoyed the defeat did I? I'm pretty sure I was just as sick as you when that second goal went in.

What i'm saying is that it was nice to watch a better standard of football to compared to last season where the oppositions only tactic wasn't to kick ten bags of shite out of us. Take the Boston home game from early last season for example, it was a terrible game miles behind yesterday but I certainly enjoyed the result more. I find peoples negativity after one game ridiculous. In a season of 46 matches you are going to lose some games and I firmly believe you don't really get a clear indication of how the season is going to go until at leat 15-20 games in. Look at last season, we couldn't score in the first month of the season and won 5 of our first 17 matches.....

Yesterday we looked a side who will do alright at this level, no doubt about that.

I have to disagree PJ,3 points comes first,entertainment second.It doesnt matter how good the football is if we get beat its not enjoyable.
Dennis Wise made a comment last year "We will go kick lumps out of Hartlepool,it wont be pretty but we'll get 3 points & our fans will be the happier".I hate to say it,but he was right.

I know of course three points comes before entertainment, but all I am saying is I enjoyed the game and plenty of aspects of our performance. I was gutted we lost but still enjoyed the game, surely that isn't impossible?

I agree with Pj, maybe it wis because we were there and seen the whole performance so we understand how misrepresentitive that scoreline was. There was a 30 - 40 minute period yesterday when we looked awesome. Yes we lost but there were far more positives than negatives.

Obviously I cant comment on the performance as I wasnt there,but if we were the better team by that much then it seems to me like highlighting the fact that we cant score goals.
Enough of that though,yesterdays been & gone,Im still confident that Barker & Brown will start scoring regularly,if Porter is fully over his injury problems then we have a 3rd striker too.
Bring on the Donny.

I really enjoyed yesterdays match, some nice passing movements, intelligent running and sheer hard work saw us match a useful Luton side.

I want to be entertained and I enjoyed the football played in yesterdays defeat more than some of the games we won last season. I think that is the point PJ was making.

If we won promotion by kicking lumps out of the opposition we would merely come staight back down, it is not a sustainable way to play.

We have a squad capable of playing good football and more than holding our own in this division.

Role on Tuesday night.

Very true, just 3 points separate the top 23 teams!!

I think that most people have just been stating the obvious, my concerns are the same as they were before the season begun. is the keeper good enough? Will we create enough in the final third, and will we score enough goals?

Mr Costello, you probably only think that people's concerns are daft because you are a massive optomist, in fact there's not many who are more optomistic than you, maybe PJ, probably Richard Head and maybe PoolieKev.

I'm not sure how you can have 'concerns' about yesterdays performance when you weren't at the game We have signed several new players yet you seem to be basing your opinion on the views of others. Lee-Barratt for example who you voiced your 'concerns' about on the day he signed even though you knew jack shit about the lad. Only one game but he looked perfectly capable yesterday.

I have absolutely no problem of voicing my concerns if I have any, I've done it in the past. But for 30-40 minutes I watched some of the best passing football i've watched a Pools team produce and we created plenty in the final third just lacking that last pass or finish. Before we took the lead we where superb.

If only that had been the case.

We took the lead didn't we in 90th minute? I mean the ref must have spotted that foul on Boland and McCunnies fine goal line clearance

someone has wet the bed

Why are you talking in 3rd person?!

I have to say I'm not worried about us at all for this season based on that performance. We had 65% of possession and stretched them all over the park, especially first half. Our choice of whether to shoot or slip the extra pass into feet was wrong more than right, but if we weren't getting into the advanced positions to make the choice in the first place, then I'd be concerned that we didn't have the midfield to do it - but that's not the case. The football from the back line to midfield to forward areas was very well constructed, but like I said a few occasions the wrong choices were made or the chance was snatched at (Humphreys had a mare in that respect), but I'm sure it will all come together very soon.
As for their second goal, the defender was standing ON the line when I seen it on telly yesterday morning in the hotel, so how could the ball have been behind the line? If that had been us, I agree with gravedisorder, it would NOT have been given. Refs and lonos were pathetic @homers@ for me. Unfortunately yesterday's highlights didn't show the challenge before the first goal, to confirm whether or not it was a foul, which I thought at the time it was.

did you have a good drink after the game parmo, i was the one in the car with the twins shouting Parmo... i didnt want to shout any obscenities as we have not officially become acquainted yet

nah - I like people who shout obscenities!!!! I'm a gold medallist for obscenities on football days. From 11o'clock in the morning 'till chucking out time. We had a good laugh on the night, like.

so next time its;

'oi yer fecking parmo muncher'

get it right man - it's @You big fat horrible massive headed parmo eating useless twat@