Northampton 1 Pools 1

cobblers 3 pools 1.

I hope the don't put the boot in....I'll get me coat.

1-1 draw - Bogle back to scoring ways with a poachers finish in the box

1_1 Killip
90+6

Does he score for us or them?

Cobblers 1 Pools 1 The spirit of Hooligan through Bogle (AKA Billy's Boots. No, not Billy Horner!). 6,356 Pools 390)

Wont lose.
If u believe in miracles 25 pts needed foe play offs.

UTP.

Draw, I suspect the play off ship has sailed, but ........?

That ship will not be launched until next august and was only being built this season.

I might be wrong here but I don't think we have won in Northampton for over 50 years. In order to keep the season remotely interesting be good time to do it.

Need to look out for the free kicks and long throws into the area, need to do a man marking job on Mitch Pinnock who it all seems to come through. never the less a 2-1 win to Pools.

Interview with Northampton footy reporter in the Mail says Northampton score a lot of goals from set pieces....that's us fooked, then. Cobblers 3 Pools 1.

Before every away match, nearly everyone says we’re fooked, have some faith in them ffs

Interesting line up!

Yet another early goal conceded ffs!

I see from the BBC stats that Northampton did their homework telling defenders to not worry about giving away corners as Pools cannot score from one and they are more likely to get a breakaway goal.
Pools coaching staff have their work cut out solving this problem.

Lol. Yes, every reason for optimism.

That was pretty dire.

I'm beginning to doubt Mr Bogle and Carver is no better. Omar is either nowhere near fit or he is nowhere near good enough. Which is it???? Crawford couldn't hit a barn door if he was sitting on the latch. He needs hours and hours worth of target practice.
A new strike force is needed in the summer.
We win corner after corner, loads of throw ins, get loads of possession but getting nothing from it.
Northampton had far more energy and urgency to get forward as against our very pedestrian approach.
Unless these short comings are addressed and rectified, and quickly, we will lose our very talented full backs and Odusina. These three are the heads that are being turned, Mr Lee. If they aren't given the contracts needed to turn their heads back towards us, then we will be in serious trouble next season. Cross after cross from open play and set pieces are rained into the opposition box, without any of our players able to get a header on target. It can't go on.
Mark my words.

Well said Mr Derwent.
In the first ten minutes of today's game Pools had 8 minutes of possession and the opponents two minutes but we were 1-0 down!

we have a problem getting a head first to crosses at the back...and never ever get a head first to a cross from a corner upfront...sweeney talked about it earlier in the season.....cant remember after what game...and northampton are where they are in large part because their 6' 3 central defenders guthrie and horsfall...who are the opposite of ours....nasty aggressive characters who dont mind having their faces altered as long as they get to the ball first...cant stop scoring from set pieces...14 goals between them so far...unbelievable.... sure spike and nels are on to it....

Northampton are third and fighting go for automatic promotion and we’re on the beach. Bogle has changed our team and has a long contract. He will be leading the line next season.

We’ve had a great season, just get behind them!

I still cannot get over losing Gav and keeping Crawford

I must admit the strike force is starting to concern me for next season. I thought the first month Bogle was different class, his form has certainly dropped since maybe knackered playing too much. Needs a goal this week to get him going again. Not sure bout carver, has he just been unlucky? Needs a pre season, who knows but I think we still need that prolific striker if we are to challenge in the next year or two. Been a good season hopefully this defeat doesn't start a poor end to it.

We just need to defend properly. Our goals against column is poor. If you nearly always give the opposition a goal start you lose more than you win. I'm wondering if Lidds has finally reached the end of his illustrious career? He is making a growing number of cock ups.

I suspect Liddle’s day is long gone, he’s blowing for a tug. Surely this is his final season....?

This couldn’t be further from truth..we conceded 50 in 38 games…not fantastic but not disastrous…we have scored 39…there lies the issue.

We don’t have enough goals from midfield…and that ultimately put lot of pressure on a strike force which has been pretty much awful this season as a whole…bogle seems fine since Jan and I’d even say molyneux did well out of position but looks way better in a wide right position

The midfield are neat and tidy but anonymous, hardly dynamic and at times a bit laboured and at times looks like every match is a practice match...... it has no teeth, aggression or drive.

Deffo.
But grateful for his performances last season.

Their commentator said Pools are a "nice team" but nice teams rarely win anything. They also remarked that Pools just seemed to be going through the motions with nothing to play for. Could be a very disappointing end to a very good season if we don't wake up.

big plus for me from this game...bilo...first game but looked calm confident and reliable...good early save...good kicking and distribution...nothing much he could have done with the goals...hope spike plays him again ..impressive young lad.... think he will do well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVuhe0Pq9vU

There can be no excuses for poor recruitment this summer.
Rewind to just after DC left.
Raj quoting i kept money back and then the new commercial gadgie confirming thefes an excellent budget ALL BEFORE we went on these cup runs n sustained 5000+ crowds.
Surely we gunna hit our targets early n not get the last week in august dreggs.
Sorry if i sound to ambitious.


UTP.

pools play nice neat football when they are on song and a total pleasure to watch. when things go wrong they look wanting in midfield especially. hope spike is looking at the succesfull sides this season in how they do it and not doing it the present way. the only plus point is that you go to games and not actually know what to expect. thats why pools are mid table. totally inconsistant like others in a similar position. big centre half and defensive central midfielder with some height who have no history of injuries are a must for next august. plus players who regularly get 7 out of 10 every week and not 5 one game and 9 the next.

This couldn’t be further from truth..we conceded 50 in 38 games…not fantastic but not disastrous…we have scored 39…there lies the issue.

but out of those conceeded goals many of these have been similar ones from set pieces. are pools the only side in the top half with a minus goal difference. know that at worst its only really like dropping one point but it could have made a difference. next couple of games this week should show if the side are just going through the motions as they have achieved what they set out to do back in august.

Spot on a tiny bit of ambition next season, a few decent players we could be knocking on the door of 6000 crowds regularly, their should be no reason why we can't compete with most teams in the league now. We have the 6th best crowds in the league and we have been mid table for most of it with some pathetic away followings not helping our gates that other teams benefit from.

We probobly need 4 quality players, I don't believe we are far away, but if we continue to lose players were just going to be playing catch up again.

This year was about staying up. We have done that let's not roll over next season and just accept mediocrity or keep churning out oh at least we are a football league club or we nearly went bust 5 year ago excuses. Next season we should be better.

Assuming we keep Killip, Odusina, Byrne, Ogle, Ferguson, Sterry, Morris, Featherstone, Crawford, Grey, Molyneux and Bogle.

We certainly need people in the side that score goals regularly

A big centre half who can prevent goals in our box but also be a threat in the oppo's box.
A Tony Sweeney type attacking midfielder who scores goals.
Two strikers like we had with Oates and Armstrong.

Plus a big commanding keeper.

Fill in around that lot and we won't be far off, with a left back unless we keep ZFA and a speedy winger.

A couple more bringing the squad up to 22/23 strong should see us ok.

A couple of months ago I said they needed to get the better players who were out of contract to be offered decent new deals . Since then nothing players leaving also the guy heading up recruitment gone. The way it is going as with Oates and Johnson last year players will be tempted away. While the academy is important that is for the future. Please wake up now and start shaping up for next season.

How do you know they aren’t......?

if only things were that easy. pools offer new contracts to key players. someone comes sniffing around and offers them better. pools match it and this club ups it offers. how far are the club going to go in the auction. every good player has his price with the possibility of there being better about for less money. pools are in a better place now than they were last season. most of us thought they would be fighting a relagation battle and i doubt many players fancy that. apart from the deals oates and johnson got i just wonder if relegation may have been on their minds. now this is not a problem.

I reckon keeping our best players is harder than recruiting new ones.
Sterry, Ferguson, Odusina and Molyneux are bound to be on a few clubs radar and their agents will be active in touting them round as about to be out of contract, if indeed they are out of contract.
I have no doubt Lee will be pushing to tie them down but as Accy says, it won't be easy.
It would be great to get them in decent length contracts and then be able to follow Lee's recruitment plan to build around them.

Sterry still has a year left on his contract. The other three are free agents in the summer as things stand, along with Killip, Byrne, Shelton, Crawford and Grey.

Spike is hoping to get at least a few of them to commit to new deals in the next few weeks rather than leaving it till after the season ends. Mols was openly talking about wanting to stay a few weeks back, then he scored that worldie down at Harrogate and hit top form...

Danny Cowley was at Northampton on Saturday watching Pools so has an eye on someone.

Ferguson, Odusina, Byrne, Grey, Mols, Crawford, Killip - in that priority order for me of those out of contract in the summer.

My Biggest concern is also the fact of keeping hold of our best players and making the team around them. Should we find ourselves needing a new back line plus another forward and midfielder(s) we could be dragged back in to making the numbers up for the start of the season. I would like to think everyone whos out of contract in the summer is offered new deals - Spike has already quoted that heads are being turned... this is most worrying as likely stated before where does the bidding stop (known our luck we will be the unlikely winners of any bidding war from a L1 club or dare i say it Stockport / Wrexham).

I would think it be common knowledge to the scouts and recruitment people that some of our best players are out of contract in the summer plus the likes of Sterry with only a year left. Maybe Ferguson - Grey - Mols are the players i would most likely think are being targeted - Crawford after his turn in form may also be attracting interest (DC has always been an admirer of his so no surprise if he leaves us for them also).
If players heads are turning i hope it doesnt damage what is done on the pitch - if they know they are away then id still hope for 100% from the lads on the pitch regardless if we are safe etc...

The 2 scenarios i can see us in this summer are 1. Cash in and replace with better (if we can) or 2. Give the lads mega contracts with some of the gained cash and saved cash we have from letting the likes of Cullen and Holohan go, then build a better team around them. Bring in fit no injury record players as said before and get someone in to challenge Killip full time ! We need an attacking winger and a real strong box to box midfielder. We should be pushing for promotion within 2 seasons - we have shown we are good enough to play L1 sides and put them away so i dont see why we couldnt be in that league with a few more decent top quality signings.

doubt there is a single club not in pools position now regarding players out of contract in the summer. surely the club is in a better position now than its been for years regarding the size of the crowds and un budgetted cup income. Noe pools should be looked at as a club to come to and not the last resort as its been many times in the past. However that will only work if competative wages and contracts are offered to present and future players. Trying to do the job on the cheap just will not work.

So to cut a long story short.
Spike needs a bit of financial backing from Raj.
A bit like what the Mansfield manager got this season. Like has previously been said we only 3 or 4 good signins away from a team to seriously challenge for promotion if we can get our current out of contract players to re sign new deals.
UTP.

This summer we need to transition from a non league club where most players are on one season contracts to league contenders where you build around proven players on 2 to 3 year contracts. Last summer we were frustrated by the late finish of our season. The targets have been identified from all that's been said. Can the management deliver? Over the next few months we will see the real ambition and intent at the club.

I think Raj has shown with the Omar Bogle signing and the calibre of loanees brought in in January that Pools are not trying to do anything on the cheap these days.

Pools have the luxury of knowing what division they are going to be in next season, which is a mile away from the NL fiasco of not finally getting promoted till the back end of June! There's money in the kitty too, another big difference to the last pre-season.

Right now Pools really need to get their fingers out and and get the likes of Molyneux signed up, even if there are release clauses in the contracts signed. Pools can't 'cash in' on players who are free agents in June.*

*Apart from Grey, who Pools have developed from being a youth player.

Yeh 100% agree - im glad that a marquee signing of such was had in Jan. It left a warm feeling inside knowing the direction the club is going in. To sign someone his standard on a long contract (in Pools terms). Things can only get better when the summer comes.

If said players do go you would think we had enough money now to replace them with like for like if not better players too.

worlds away from where we was at last summer - plus the whole Covid malarky still hadnt gone away fully which didnt help matters.