1 - Ben Clark has missed all 4 games since last November that we lost

2 - Joel Porter was the last Pools player to score

3 - Michael McKay was the last Pools player to put the ball into the net ,his strike may have been disallowed,but he still managed to put the ball in the net,something none of our forward line did at Luton from open play.

So,what role will these 3 play during the rest of the season.

Clark,I like him & am disappointed to see him left out,but haven't seen Antwi yet
Porter,if hes fully fit is probably the best player we have
McKay,inexperienced & unproven,but he does know where the goal is

All you guys that were at Luton,do you think any of those 3 starting would have made a difference ?

Surely Barker was the last player to score GC.

Clark played against Bristol Rovers, granted he missed the Barnet, Rochdale, and Luton games. He'll have a big part to play this season as he's a good enough player to take his chance when it comes along. Its very harsh on him but we have healthy competition for places at the back, you've got Robbie Elliott who's best position is centre back as well.

I don't think any of the back five including the keeper can get into any comfort zones because non of them are nailed on to play, as the leaving out of Ben Clark proves.

Porter again will have a huge part to play, like Clark he's good enough to take his chance when it comes along. He wasn't a regular early season when he emerged as arguably our best player in 2004/2005. Barker and Moore will have to produce to goods quickly as one of them will lose their shirt.

Mackay will have to do extremely well in reserve team football to make the 16 as he's totally unproven at this level, its down to him how far he goes.

I don't undrstand the people who are going on about players who didn't make the team on Saturday, as if competition for places is a bad thing. We have played 1 of 46 matches, they will all get the chance to prove that DW was wrong on Saturday, something i'm sure Mr Wilson would love them to do.

They may or may not have made a difference on Saturday; I rather suspect they wouldn't, but let's not be in a hurry to write off the team that did play. I don't think chopping and changing is the way forward. That's the Scotty approach.

Look on the bright side: we've scored 100% of our penalties this season so far!

Im not complaining about Saturdays team,just offering food for thought.

The difference being none of our new signings are 'talentless shite'. The only person who can count himself unlucky is Ben Clark as he was the only regular from the the promotion team to miss out but Antwi is good that is plain to see. We had to replace Dimi as he chose in your words 'bench warming' at Coventry over staying at the Vic (did you see Coventrys team sheet at the weekend ). Joel Porter has done nothing for two years now, I know he is a great player and been very unfortunate with various injurys but he has still contributed very little in two seasons. I'd love to see him have a top season and be the first name on the teamsheet, but its up to him to take his chance when it comes.

Martin Scott is thankfully history, you certainly can't compare him to Danny Wilson

Errrr ... yes, didn't I say chopping and changing like?

The goalkeeping change is forced upon Pools, I did find it strange that Wilson didn't back the player who he signed to be number 1. I know in some pre season games Jan made a few mistakes but he was signed as the senior goalkeeper wasn't he? This is not a did at Lee Barrett because he could prove to a really good signing over the next couple of season but lets be honest many Division Four teams could of signed him and not started him at the weekend. I was surprised that we didn't spend some cash to find a replacement for this posistion after losing such a quality player in Dimitrious.....

On the centre backs from the limited match action I've seen Antwi looks really good as an individual. Just because he is on loan from a big team does not mean he should be guarenteed a game. I hope this is not the case. Nelson / Clark complimented each other last season so perhaps they should be first choice and maybe Antwi should of been made to win his place.

On the full backs we always seem to have ????? over them. We probably always will.

On the centre of midfield, it sounds like they really bossed the game in the first half at Luton, and it's good to hear that Boland appears to be back to some form. Get Monkey in the mix and we have some midfield.......

Brown is not a winger, Humphreys tries but is just warming the place for Monkey.

Up front, Joel causes problms, he is tricky, pacy and links play really well. I think most would of given him the nod over Moore, not saying ian is a bad player, hopefully he will find some goalscoring form - he should of scored that header......

EDIT - On Barker he looked sluggish in the pre season game I saw but it was the first one, towards the end of last season he developed a bit of mobility and became a massive handful for the opposistion - hopefully it won't take him long to become a nuisence in this league.....

i don't care me
the transfer window is still open

I prefer the Nelson/Clark combo too, as Jonny says; Antwi is a good player but he is the same as Nelse only bigger. Clark has a big more attack about him whilst retaining the defensive ability. Here's a shocker; I'd swap Antwi for Nelse before I'd drop Clark.

In midfield, Monkhouse will make the difference, Humphreys was simply now up to the job as a winger and to my mind he's now a squad player. The rest of midfield is fine

MacKay is a tough one, we haven't seen enough of him and we won't know until we try him. What we do know is that he has the scoring habit. Porter made a difference when he came on so I'd go with the thought that he should have been in the team.

He had a couple of good games but that hardly makes a good season, his contribution due to injury was minimal. In between those good performances during the early part of last season he often could be found sitting on his arse moaning at referees after another fourth division clogger had upended him. His body language suggested he thought he was better than that (which he is) but that didn't help the team. He was getting a fair amount of stick just before his injury, fairly or unfairly but it can't be said he was setting the fourth division alight, he looked like he didn't want to be their.

Some truth in all that but the Joel Porter I sen last Saturday looked fully motivated.

You all will be singing porters praises shortly when he gets his engine going again then he will start the match

I disagree!

Nelse is the bigger of the two