From what I can make out, Pools were not very good in the first half but dominated in the second half. Anyone who saw the game can you comment on why this was? Was it a tactical change? Did Pools just show more energy? Did we press higher up the pitch? Were Dale knackered after bossing the first half? Interested to know.

Not sure about any change in shape as such but we looked better when Dodds was playing in his natural position of wingback. Sterry went off, Menayese came on and Dodds replaced Sterry on the right. His pace is wasted in central defence.

An injection of pace is something that is desperately needed in this team, if we can get a forward or two who can go past defenders we might just stay in this league.

Dale pressed pools very well in the first half but you can't keep that momentum up all game so they faded. Obviously with a few new faces in the team it also takes a bit of time to adapt and settle into your role which happened in the second half. Before the sending off we had started far better and that just helped us along the way thankfully. Seen pools play 10 men plenty of times and get absolutely nothing. Also think the crowd sparked into life second half which can drive the players to make tackles and run that extra yard. When sterry went off we got to see Dodds in his natural position and he was class, got us up the pitch and likes running at players, be hard to fit both them in the side to get the best out of them.

My thoughts too.

The quality of Dodds crosses, Armstrong would have a field day.
Any poacher would.

Pools were already one up and cruising when Sterry (who also had a good game) came off. I thought Dale started the first half brightly but soon faded. Most of the rest of the half was scrappy and the big question was where a goal for Pools might come from. Presumably KC had a word about the slow start because we were much quicker of the blocks for the second 45 and Dale were under pressure when the sending off happened.

Pools new look defence looked decent without and with Meyanese - what a luxury! It certainly seemed to give Killip some confidence - came off his line at the right times and took a couple of crosses cleanly. The only downside is I reckon Peter Hartley will average a booking a game - he takes no prisoners and is no quicker (maybe not even as quick) as Lidds was when he first came back. Won his headers though!

For me that was the standout of the second half. Killip looked like a "proper" keeper behind that defence.

Thing is if you've got proper defensive cover which we've not had for a while you can suffer suspensions to certain players if they take someone out who was just about to score for example, let's face it it's a luxury we've lacked for quite a while now. Honesty gets you nothing in the game today, you have to break the rules a bit to gain those extra points.

Many thanks to all of the responders. Interesting reading.

does help also when you have more than one central defender to pick. how many other sides would have also struggled in similar circumstances. lets hope we have some good luck on the injury front over the next few months and this could be the deciding factor where our football is played next season.