Me and our lass went to Oakwell last night. What a cracking game of football. Both sides were hell bent on attacking and it really was very entertaining.
There weren't very many there at kick off. The Barnsley first team were away at Watford and there was live footy on the box, and it was bloody freezing!
The Poolie contingent in the stand consisted of us two, Mr and Mrs Turner and Danny Wilson.
We had hardly taken our seats before Pools were two up. Two Matty Tymon headers which he took with clinical ease. Both Tymon and Mackay were causing serious problems for the Tykes defence and it wasn't long before Mackay had the ball in the net again, after a sublime through ball from Rowell, but an alert linesman ruled it offside.
Pools continued to dominate and created a series of chances, none of which were taken, with Mackay being the main culprit. He could have had four or five on the night, but his finishing was woeful.
As half time approached Rowell, who had been the target of some very robust tackling, was clattered once again after a hospital pass from Mackay. After lengthy treatment a stretcher was called for and he was carried off.
The second half started with Pools on the attack and two very scoreable chances were saved by the keeper, before Tymon sealed it with a good effort from about twelve yards.
Mackay had three one on ones with the keeper before eventually getting his name on the score sheet.
A great result for the lads and well deserved.
Barnsley played a lot of pretty football without causing much worry to the Pools defence. In the main they were restricted to long range efforts although one of their lads shaved the bar with a header that he really should have done better with.
Antwi was very solid in defence. The only blot on his copybook was his distribution, as he gave it away a few times.
Haig was excellent at left back and looks the business.
The man of the match for me was Craig Ruddy. A real high tempo polished performance.
A kid called Nick Scott came on as sub and was impressive.
For Barnsley a lad called Luke Fedorenko was outstanding and looks a good player. He was always in space and used the ball well.
Going back to Antwi. I watched him closely last night and, if I had not seen him in league one, I would be saying he was ready for a step up to the first team. He was head and shoulders above any other defender on the pitch. On top of that he never stopped barking out orders and encouragement.
We had a very pleasant chat with Mr and Mrs Turner. I have always found Chris Turner to be a friendly approachable type who will obviously talk football all day
On the way home we stopped to collect a chinese takeaway which we washed down with a bootle of wine.
A good night.............enjoyed it.

Nice report Mr T, interesting to get a perspective on the reserves. I don't think I've seen a reserve game since I was at school.

Much appreciated Mr Tickhill. cheers

He has just been released by the club along with 7 others....

On last night's performance, he should be kept on. Maybe the club have a policy of just taking a few on professional contracts each year. We have Rowell, Tymon and Tait who have been offered contracts this year. I suppose there must be a limit. After Rowell and Haymer were taken off injured he controlled the midfield last night. I am just going on last night's effort. The club will decide, that's the way of it.

You would think though, with the youth team having such an impressive season, that they would keep more than 2 of them on? For these lads who have been released they may as well have went into a proper job when they left school rather than get their hopes up only to be dashed in the end at Pools. Still, as Ken says, the club is run the same as their other businesses are. Presumably they pay their engineering apprentices off when they are 17 as well then?

AND don't forget that at the level we are now, there's still professional chances in two lower divisions.

It's no longer a stigma to have come through the ranks at Hartlepool.

nice prose

not surprsed re tymon

that type of form will get noticed by others