forgive me for not being ecstatic at another home draw.

Dissapointing couple of days points wise if only we could have held on inninjury time Saturday it would have been decent. Still only 1 defeat in 12 so it's not all bad and three points from a play off spot.

Another fair result I thought, they had an absolute sitter at the end and smashed it over the bar when it looked easier to score.

Unbelievable free kick from Deverdics. Full 35 yards out and smashed into the top corner.

Rodney was poor in my opinion, just doesn't seem to move anywhere when he doesn't have the ball. Hawkins was also poor as well, never seems to get a tackle in, just contains and leaves an out ball.

Deverdics was the best player on the pitch by an absolute mile, everything we did went through him and Franks on the left. Much improved performance though, for 20 minutes in each half we were well on top.

Good point from pj I'd take 1 defeat in 12 anyday with pools, Was it the Eastleigh game we lost? Good free kick from Deverdics hell off a left foot on him nothing like Hugh the Hammer like back in the day but all in all good point well fought point.

Only one team were going to win it at the end and it wasn't us

Once again with a little bit of ambition and the points were there for the taking.
What was woods playing number 10 roll worse game he has had in a long time you have munns or dev who would have made so much more going forward.
Give the manager his due he has got the team organised and putting a lot of effort in how ever i just wish he would play an attacking midfielder and go for more goals cos like on Saturday we scored first and then shit ourselves

but they didn't.

Thought we were the better team for most of the match but the last 10 evened it up.

We're still crying out for a striker. Even a bang average one will be an improvement. Decent-ish game though

I think 2nd half they made a clever change bringing the more mobile centre half on and they closed down higher up the pitch. I think our lack of movement when we got the ball let us down the most.

I'll take the 1-1, but thought we'd won it at the end.

Deverdics is absolutely quality at this level, was one of the best players in the league when he was at Dover.

Scott Davies, our keeper, wastes time like nobodies business but he's a pretty honest guy. If he was hurt or talking to the bench, I'd put money on him being actually hurt. The amount of bookings he gets for wasting time in a conventional manner and I've never seen him pretend to be hurt.

Glad out trip up there is out of the way anyway, was always likely to be one of the hardest trips of the season.

Good luck for the rest of the campaign, see you at Prenton Park on the last day. Hopefully it's got something on it and we can have another cracker.

He untied his own lace when he was down. Knew exactly what he was doing to get that little bit of extra time.

I didn't go to the game, so can't comment on it really. Our local radio seems to think he's got a legitimate foot injury, so maybe trying to relieve some pressure or something? As I say, he's more the type to take an age from a goal kick than to pretend to be hurt.

No offence but that’s bollocks. One sub came round to give him instructions, but not even a sign of an injury prior and then he goes down? To be fair I would say it’s more down to the manager who I assume gave the initial instruction, but poor form either way and the keeper didn’t show himself in a good light by continuesly smirking at our fans afterwards.

Shame cos it was a half decent game to watch, and it was good having a decent away following here.

The keeper was thick as fook like, despite this sub who'd ran all the way round to the goalpost to tell him to go down, it took three or four from Tranmere's bench flapping their arms and pointing to the ground for him to eventually hit the deck, I hope he stands on an upturned plug when he gets in tonight, the knob

Would there be any point in achieving a play off spot with the current squad? It would probably need three straight wins to gain promotion and with the present goal scoring ability, that is highly unlikely. Failure to sign a couple of decent strikers will condemn us to at least another season in this crap league.

Was a good game I enjoyed it. Shame it was a draw but at least it was a decent game. We had a few good chances especially in the first half. Then Deverdics with a fantastic free kick, Absolutely shamed their keeper. We struggled after they scored but we still hit the bar or post after the keeper spilled one and then they should of scored at the end really.

I just don't really like the everyone back for corners thing. Didn't help with their goal either we had four men doing nothing in the six yard box as their centre half smashed an unmarked header home.

How come the 4th official at 88 minutes put the board up with 4 minutes of added time? The final whistle went on 92 minutes.

The clock on the scoreboard was late starting after half time.

Not a bad game but a lot of nothing play in the middle of the park. Great goal for Pools and theirs was well taken too. Probably the right result overall.

If it's played out the way you describe, it would be the first time since our relegation he's done something like that, certainly as far as I can remember anyway. Mellon certainly isn't the type of manager to ask players to do that. I'm not naive, we're no angels (nobody is in this league), so we could have done it, but I'd be really, really shocked.

This

Agree with that, surely Harrison saw on saturday that Simpson is too slow to close defenders down, doesn't win any headers and offers little goal threat, surely one of his 2 new signings could do better

Connor Simpson is 6ft 5in and wears diving boots

Neither him or Rodney are experienced enough to be leading the line when we play with a central striker. The midfield isn't good enough to play without 3 in there and the two wingers. Catch 22 innit.

Can we stop criticising the 17 year old kid who played about 20 minutes. I mean yeah he probably didn't have the best cameo but come on. Lets give the kid a chance.

Well, I know we all see things differently but for me it stopped being a decent game from a Pools point of view about a minute after Deverdics hit his worldy free kick.

No idea why they were time wasting as Pools' game literally fell apart after the equalizer. Lost count of the number of mis-hit passes - Featherstone for one gave away possession in dangerous positions three times in quick succession.

Tranmere should have nicked it - what a miss at the end!

Deverdics, Oates, Franks (first half) had decent games, otherwise...


.

Not sure I’m watching the same games as I thought we played poorly. Ok, we had a good 20 minute spell which we should of scored more than we did. Harrison stating it’s the best 60-65 minutes we’ve played???? Well that’s the reason we are mid table and deservedly so. Also states we should of finished the game off during our decent spell. We probably would have, if we didn’t play a lone striker. Franks up top on his own at start with the supporting “forwards” an inch from the touch line. Sorry, can’t get my head around the formation and leaving no one up top at oppo corners is madness.

Disappointed Loach kicked the ball out for their keeper, must have been obvious what was going on by the crowds reactions.

Did fuck all once we started making subs. Would have liked to have seen Munns come on to be honest, no idea what Adams is or what he offers but suppose it allowed us to move Deverdics into midfield.

Results went ok for us, would have been a great night to get all 3 but wasn’t to be. 2 mistakes led to the corner they scored from and at a time we seemed to be well on top.

It's what I said before the game when someone was calling for him to start that it will only take a bad few minutes for the sane idiots who slag off 19 year old Rodney to start doing the same to 17 year old Simpson.

Connor has just been named as one of the top 11 apprentices in the league last season, I'm sure he's bright enough not to take any notice of a few idiots in the crowd.

As for only trying to not lose games, I totally agree. I wonder if it's a lack of confidence in our defence? Other defences in this league all have their frailties too, we need to concentrate on exposing them more.

Woods was a liability and nearly gave away a goal in the first half then created the opportunity for their equaliser. He looked lethargic, was he injured?
I just have s problem with what Harrison's tactics are.

The club needs to put a Ticket Offer on for the next 2 home games in a few weeks.
Get 2 crowds above 4000.
This way im certain when we take the lead the players wont have the bottle to instantly defend a one goal lead.

Well thats my phylosiphy.
Brilliant support again last night in nombers and vocals that needs rewarding in a top 7 finish.

Well, according to the footballing Legends on the Facebook page, we are shite. Hawkins the worst player ever to pull a shirt on, Harrison shite and out of his depth. 'HARRISON OUT!!', screams one 17 year old UEFA coach, whilst some other couch potato, who kicked a balloon in Mcdonalds once drones "the first rule of football is....". My brain hurts when I read that page.

I thought Hawkins had an ok game last night. Put a few good tackles in moved the ball well when in possession put it on a plate for Oates in the first half when he should of scored really. Also he got on the end of one but completely mishit his shot but at least he's starting to get into those positions.

Woods had a bit of a shocker and gave the ball away dangerously a few times but we know he is better than that.

Was refreshing to see Hawkins and Woods finally getting forward when we have the ball in wide positions though I would see one of them try and make a run in behind a bit more.

Could really do with at least one of them two getting towards 10 goals if they're going to be playing in those positions this season.

I thought that too Snowy he was caught in possession on half way with Deverdics and Franks in loads of space on the left in the first half that put us under pressure and the mistake that led to the corner for their goal was so easily avoidable. We should've defended the set piece better right enough but we shouldn't have had to.

I thought Donnelly had a very good game by the way.

Solid, good positioning, won headers and tackles and decent distribution. Very encouraging display from him in the centre of defence.

Simpson came on at the wrong time as Tranmere were getting more control of the game and Pools had lost their rhythm.

Some knob heads in Millhouse giving him some stick was bang out of order and these people have clearly never kicked a ball in anger.

Neither Rodney nor Simpson deserve to be shouted at and have their confidence drained by morons. It has gotten to Rodney and it comes across in his play. He looks nervous and too self conscious.

Chip points to the skill to skin fatty McNulty in the first minute and it was excellent, however the frustration with him is he retreated into his shell as the game moved on and was largely on the periphery of the game. At times you could see Woods, Franks and Deverdics pointing out to him the runs he should be making.

My view is he should be given a break and helped to regain some confidence and conviction. Cassidy can't come back quickly enough.

The fans were once again magnificent last night. 3400 for a non league game, between 14th and 17th. Lets be honest its not been very exciting either. Last night was probobly one of the better games to watch. If that game had been on a saturday we would of got 4000 to 4500.

That's what i was thinking last night, apart from Franks and Loach the rest were here last season

The whole thing with Rodney annoys me to be honest - there's a good player in there, but he seems to lack confidence and people getting on his back really doesn't help the lad. The problem really is the lack of an experienced striker - asking a teenager to lead the line at this level, whether it's Rodney or Simpson, is a big ask - and Harrison has struggled to attract someone to come in on loan in that position. To be fair, there's probably not many experienced strikers who aren't already first teamers anyway unless they're way out of form or coming back from injury... He wanted Amond and Cassidy, lost one to injury and the other didn't want to be here, and he's doing his best to make do until Cassidy is back. So we get the likes of Thorne because they're willing to come and presumably aren't breaking the budget, while waiting for Cassidy to be fit and/or a suitable loanee to become available.

To be fair with what's available we're doing all right - we've become hard to beat against the better sides - and if that's with effectively last season's squad, well it just shows what a tactically astute manager could have done with them last season - with Harrison rather than Jones we'd probably have been safe by a comfortable margin. It's frustrating that the impact of Harrison's signings has been limited due to injury mostly (coughLukeGeorge) which worries me, but even with them I thought Top 10 would be a decent aim for us this season and we're not far off that - given the chaos of the end of last season the fact that we're a third of the way through and looking at the table thinking that there's no-one to really scare us is no mean feat.

It will be interesting to see what happens when some of the injured players are fit again - I reckon that once Cassidy's fit for example we might look at 4-4-2 more often with Cassidy up top with one of Oates/Rodney/Simpson, Deverdics and Franks/Donaldson wide, maybe Featherstone/George and Munns/Woods in the middle - which would set us up to be a more attacking side. However that's also dependent on the defence looking more solid....

To be fair though to add a little balance regarding new signings I reckon a player we're missing massively at the moment is Jake Cassidy. He could have been worth another point or two in the system we're playing.

Munns is having exactly the season Deverdics had last season, in and out of the team and when he does play he's either wide or centre midfield. We have two number tens at the club who are proven to be good, creative players in the this League but we don't play a system that accommodates a number ten which had left him a bit lost.

Woods had a bit of a shocker and gave the ball away dangerously a few times but we know he is better than that.

only my third game of the season but woods for me can go from having a top game to being dire in another. probably why he is still at pools. hope for something better at sunny morecambe.

After 17 games our combined central midfield 3 have scored 1. Even Watson has the same number of goals

How many bookings is Rodney on now?
I always feel he’s walking a tight rope with getting a red in every game as he naively flys into a late reckless tackle like he did last night to get his yellow.
I’m not knocking him. It’s just a lack of experience and over eagerness but I think a one match ban after his inevitable 5 bookings might be a bit of a blessing and force Harrison into changing something up top. Maybe fit Munns into the system somehow


Agreee Cassidy is a massive miss at the minute. His presence could be the difference in getting into a play off spot at the end of the season.

One criticism of Rodney is that he needs to learn to tie his laces properly - double know it. He seems to have at least 2-3 times per game kneeling down fastening them

Velcro straps.

I thought Hawkins went missing again last night and didn't offer much at all and I also think it was a mistake putting Deverdics in the middle as he was more of a threat down the left-hand side.

It looks like we are playing for the draw every game, the whole 11 men defending a corner I just don't get, at least put Franks on the halfway line, if we clear the ball from a corner we are just waiting for it to come back in again.

Would've liked to have seen Munns come on instead of Hawkins.

I think the issue people have is that we don't go for it when in the ascendancy and no matter how good you are as a team, defending a 1-0 lead is always tricky.

I don't agree with Harrison saying for 60/65 mins was best we have played but certainly last 15 minutes of first half we moved the ball really well, had Tranmere penned back and created several good chances but just didn't take them. Fans are very fickle but as a whole with what we have endured for last 6/7/8 years the numbers themselves are good really and probably frustration coming out; albeit not helping or great motivation.

Problem that looked obvious last night from starting lineup was that you had woods who struggles to play 90 mins for both saturday and midweek, oates and rodney who don't seem fit enough to last 90 minutes and magnay who clearly must of been carrying a knock linked to what caused him to miss the south shields game (I think?). We just naturally get deeper and deeper which invites pressure and you could argue they missed a sitter to win it in the final minute. They were a horrible side for time wasting etc and nudges but it gets to a point you need some element of this more to be street wise as we are simply too nice

The only way Simpson will improve is if he is given game time. Should be in starting line up for 6 consecutive games , then see where we go from there. Cameo appearances as sub, and he will be no better this time next year.

I don't subscribe to this " he is only 17, only a young lad, he is still learning nonsense. A pro footballer should know all the basics, after that it is just about improving on what you know and perfecting it. Anyway the players who go on to make a living out of the game, are doing the business at an early age, Houchen , Newton , Humphries etc

He's not a pro footballer yet.

And he never will be , if he doesn't get game time. Another one of our youth players we will end up ruining.

A group of supporters in the town end close to me where shouting ‘hoof it forward’ within 60 seconds of kick off. I kid you not. They also ripped into Featherstone about a dozen times during the game. I know it’s only a small minority who are clueless but how can we expect players to be comfortable on the ball and express themselves when they get dogs abuse from the first minute to the last. The players and team have lost 1 game in 12 yet get verbals constantly.