from the times game section
Hughes return put out of joint by smooth Hartlepool
Hartlepool 4 Oldham 1
Dan Warburton at Victoria Park
Many more results such as this and Lee Hughes’s controversial return to the Football League fray will be long forgotten. Ultimately, a slick Hartlepool United team did the forward a huge favour by outclassing his new club, Oldham Athletic, and demanding positive headlines of their own.

With attention focused on the former West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City player, after his release from prison having served three years of a six-year sentence for causing death by dangerous driving, Oldham appeared nervous and disjointed.

Danny Wilson, the Hartlepool manager, had predicted as much and his players delivered the perfect response to the media circus surrounding Hughes.

“I don’t want to go into the rights and wrongs of the Lee Hughes situation, but speaking as a footballer it was just good to see him back in a football shirt and where he is used to plying his trade,” Robbie Elliott, the Hartlepool and former Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United full back, said.

“But we used his appearance to our advantage. The manager said before the game that there would be a lot of attention on our match because of Lee playing. He told us it was a great platform to show the rest of the country what we were capable of.

“There was a lot more attention on a Hartlepool game than normal – maybe for the wrong reasons. But we just did what we had to do.”

After ill-fated spells with Sunderland and Leeds United last season, Elliott has eased into a Hartlepool team who appear destined to contest the League One promotion places. A record of three victories from the club’s first four league matches suggests a promising season ahead and this encounter was over before half-time. Elliott, however, believes that Hughes can be the catalyst for an Oldham revival.

“Lee had a good chance and looked sharp,” he said. “He and Craig Davies look like they’ll be a force in this division and Oldham have Michael Ricketts to come back in. They have clearly got some real strength in depth up front. Lee had one chance which you would expect him to put away, but all strikers miss chances from time to time.

“He looks in good nick considering where he’s been for the past few years and you can see he’s kept himself match fit by playing nonLeague. There were a couple of boos from the fans early doors, but nothing major. Our display took the attention away from him in the end. I’d like to think the intense interest in him coming back will die down in the future.”

Appearing gaunt, yet physically fit, the shaven-headed Hughes, now 31, could have expected a far rougher ride from the sections of Hartlepool supporters, who sporadically barracked one of the most notorious figures in English football. However, first-half goals from Ian Moore, James Brown and Richie Barker, with a penalty, ensured that the home team’s support was cheering, rather than jeering, by the interval.

Davies, Hughes’s impressive strike partner, had fired Oldham in front after only 14 minutes, but Moore responded within 60 seconds and Joel Porter, the Australian forward, added Hartlepool’s fourth seven minutes from time.

“Lee’s champing at the bit, but it was very difficult for him,” John Sheridan, the Oldham manager, said. “Everyone thinks Lee can do this and do that for us, but he needs to get match fit and sharp.”

Hartlepool 4 Moore 15, Brown 26, Barker 44 (pen), Porter 83

Hartlepool United (4-4-2): J Budtz – J McCunnie, M Nelson, G Antwi, R Elliott – J Brown (sub: J Porter, 64min), G Liddle, A Sweeney (sub: R Humphreys, 37), A Monkhouse (sub: D Foley, 76) – I Moore, R Barker. Substitutes not used:A Lee-Barrett, B Clark.Next:Leeds United (a).

Oldham 1 Davies 14

Oldham Athletic (4-4-2): M Crossley – N Eardley, J Thompson (sub: N Trotman, 52), S Gregan, R Bertrand – A Liddell (sub: M Walter Mitty Shithead, 52), J-P Kalala (sub: M Allott, 54), G McDonald, C Taylor – C Davies, L Hughes. Substitutes not used: L Pogliacomi, K Lomax. Booked: Kalala, McDonald. Next: Southend United (h).





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