Is it yet another false dawn?
Can we go on a winning streak and finally nudge our way into play off contention?
Can I renew my battered optimism?

Ah Bollocks!

Barnet 1 Pools 3

Keena Toure 2

279 Never say Die Poolies! UTP!

Barnet 1 - Pools 2
Harker and Toure
Pooligans 146

Probably the biggest game we have had for quite a long time. Lose and they jump ahead of us with either 3 or 4 games in hand isnt it?

Win this one and maybe just maybe its finally time to get a little excited. Lose and well i presume were in bottom half, 6 points off play offs with a fair few having games in hand on us.

Great game to win but id probably take a draw if offered and then continue our good home form with a win over Aldershot.

As for a prediction - fuck knows.

Barnet 1 Pools 3

Keena Toure 2

199 Never say Die Poolies

Win for us 2-0.

really big game. must go out for a win. too many draws already. barnet 3 pools 2.

AGREE, DRAWS ARE NO GOOD NOW WE NEED WINS, LET'S TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS AND GO ALL OUT TO WIN AS MANY GAMES AS POSSIBLE AND TAKE DEFEATS ON THE CHIN AT LEAST THE FANS WILL GET BEHIND THE TEAM IF THEY CAN SEE THAT PHILOSOPHY.

fUCK Cap LocK!

I wasn't shouting!

Another false dawn Sick as fook. Can't even be arsed to discuss it.

They'll win the next game, to raise our hopes again before dashing them the following week.

Aldershot is winnable and Solihull are in freefall, not scored in last 6 games. Lost at home to lowly maidenhead today.

Today was always gonna be tough.

By National League standards, we are an average, middle of the table club.
W11, D11, L11 is as average as one can be and talk of a playoff spot is fantasy. Yes, a mere four extra points would put us up there but it would require at least half a dozen teams to go into freefall so they could be overtaken. It just aint gonna happen! Roll on the 2020/21 season.

Just got back home and ordered the pizza.
Frustrating day today. Up to the sending off we were at least a match for Barnet and even when we went down to ten men we could have got something out of it.
I said at half time that I would hook Holohan, not because he was playing badly, because he wasn't but because the referee appeared to be itching to get his card tally up and sure enough it happened.
Was impressed with the new centre forward and he is going to be a handful. Good on the ball and his deft flick headers, on another day, might have brought a bit more joy.
Fussy referee, awful bobbly pitch and a good dose of cynicism from Barnet, coupled with a couple of defences lapses done for us.
Forget it, dust down and move on.
Sorry I wasn't able to wax lyrical over a win.

Anyone can beat anyone in this league. Whilst it’s incredibly unlikely our final 6 games aren’t so bad if we can somehow manage to propel ourselves into contention...

But then again, this is Pools.

I didn’t think much of Barnet for a team that’s unbeaten in 11.

First half we matched them but, as ever, struggled in the final third.

Keena and Toure didn’t really click but were only feeding off high balls, which isn’t either of their games. As has already been said, Harker looked good when he came on. Good in the air and with the ball at his feet and seemed to link up with Toure better.

As ever in this league, the referee made himself the ‘star’ of the show with a ridiculous amount of bookings which inevitably ended in a sending off. Holahan’s first wasn’t a booking for me.

I feel like Challinor knows his stuff and has an eye for a good player (though not sure about Keena yet). He has got us organised in defence and midfield and playing decent football, though would be good to see Beeney playing it short rather than just launching kicks/possession back to the opposition.

Let’s see what comes going forward with Molineux back and Harker... could still make the playoffs

Cheers for report Monkey

I am not convinced with the goalkeeper however Challoner states he has offered him a deal. Listening to radio he did not have the best of games and I noticed in the mail he was given a 4 rating.

He doesn't look convincing at all from what I've seen. It's like having arran Lee barrett and Jan budtz to choose from all over again. New keeper is a must

Still a far better choice than Killip.

To be honest I think they are both mediocre and see little between them.

totally agree. do not rate killip but the other guy frightens me to death.

HighLights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IqUWLhzY0w

Killip played with Kerr and Raynes in front of him, he is more agile and a better shot stopper, he just needs to gauge when to catch it and when not to punch it into his own goal.

Some of this has to fall on the goalkeeper coach, what the fuck is he doing?

Well he certainly hasn't improved the keepers since he got the luxurious job of goalkeeper coach.

Coaches don’t have X Box remotes on the side of the pitch decision making and concentration is surely down to the player?

The manager has said Beeney needs to get fitter with that his agility should improve they must think he has something they can work with he certainly has size on his side. Killip is always going to struggle to command his area.

yer wouldn,t make a good un out of both together. funny how its a position that has never seemed to improve with all these goalkeeping coaches everyone seems to have.

Except they do...they also have micro cameras insides hats to record the action, a friend told me.

For me I still can't judge as have not seen enough of Beeney but we still seem to concede the same levels of goals. Loach wasn't perfect by any stretch but I felt much safer with him.

Let’s not forget Loach was supporters player of the year in his first year and players player of the year his second. Never missed a game and won more man of the match awards than any other player yet some did not like him. To me he was as you get at this level.

I didn’t really get the criticism of Loach, certainly one of the best keepers in the National League. Realistically a keeper who’s as good a shot stopper as him and commands his area/is really good on crosses isn’t going to be playing non League. Ultimately he was the highest earner at the club so you can see why he was offered reduced terms though buts an area were we have conceded a lot of soft goals this season.

Beeney was all at sea for their first goal & didn't get anywhere near the ball; he later went walkabout before the shot was cleared off the line by Shelton; & there may be an argument to say he should have come off his line for the second goal when Southam-Hales was clearly going to head it back to him. None of those are to do with his fitness. Sort it out Turnbull !!

And for the first goal, how come the lino didn't tell Barnet to take the corner from inside the quadrant? He was only stood 2 yards away

It doesnt need to be in the quadrant, doesnt even need to be touching it, part of it just needs to be above the line I believe.

[quote="PJPoolie"]I didn’t really get the criticism of Loach,
he did make mistakes, but which keeper would not have made them with the likes of louis laing infront of him. these keepers who get praise for all the clean sheets they get would have been a bag of nerves in that pools side.

Saturday was a woeful game of football, almost as bad as the game at Barnet the year before... at least we got a point last year I guess?

It amazes me people backing Beeney over Killip. I genuinely do not see what Beeney offers; he doesn't command his area, he's slow to get down and his distribution is average at best. Killip allowed us to play out from the back comfortably - his distribution was better than any keeper I've seen at this level. His positioning was poor for set-pieces, but I think that's easier to work on than natural agility (which I believe is what is being said of Beeney). There was a period in October, I think, where everyone was raving about Killip when he kept a few clean sheets in a row and if we'd just continued to back him I think he'd have continued in that vain. If I had to choose between the two it'd be Killip every time...

Purely looking at some of the goals Killip conceded since Challinor became manager I can see why he was looking at alternatives.

killip has had good games but beeney for me has not. the difference is that on the whole the team has got away with his flapping displays where any of killips mistakes seem to have resulted in goals. a new goalkeeper should be challinors number 1 priority this summer.

Report in mail says Challoner has offered Beeney low pay, short term contract. Hope it is just till Friday.

The inclusion of Dimi then Beeney suggests fairly clearly what the manager wants from a keeper and that’s not to get swallowed up from set pieces which probably means Killips days are numbered. I saw Beeney on the TV against Oxford and his handling looked quite solid but he just looked a bit stiff and heavy. I don’t think Killip would have been beaten by the first goal that day but his weaknesses lie in different areas. I reckon Beeney has the attributes Challinor wants regarding his height he just needs to get a lot fitter. Killip hasn’t looked the answer from day one to me, he seems a nice lad but he’s out of his depth sadly.

We could do with a keeper. That’s it.

Many years ago I attended a talk in when Bobby Moncur took over. The goal keeper at this time was Roy Tunks an experienced goalkeeper with an excellent record however after a few games the crowd were on his back. Moncur immediately shipped him out, he told the audience if a crowd gets on the goalies back you have to get him out.

We had one but he now plays for Barnet.

If the decision to dispense with Loach was purely financial I believe it was a poor decision. Considering the draws we have had, Loach could have easily helped us to add the extra points we now need to reach a playoff spot.

No idea how long Carsons contract is and imagine his wages would be a fair chunk of our budget but id probably move heaven and earth to see if he fancies returning to the North East. Cant imagine he happy sitting on bench every week.

You dont win owt with a dodgy keeper.

I think Carson has recently signed a new deal at Motherwell

You dont win owt with a dodgy keeper.[/quote]
true. makes you wonder what leeds under don revie would have achieved if they had ditched garry sprake and got a top keeper in.

Just watched the youth team's demolition job on Darlo and our keeper came out to the edge of the penalty area to take one ball and then promptly set up a goal at the other end with his clearance. If that's the sort of keeper we are developing then that can only bode well for the future. In the meantime there must be young keepers at the "big three" who would be glad of the chance to show what they can do or anywhere else for that matter.
Cloughie put great store on a keeper's contribution and he expected his keepers to contribute 15 to 20 points a season. Shankly called the keeper, the centre half and the centre forward the spine of his teams. Stop them at one end and put them in at the other. Sounds pretty basic to me.

Moncur was absolutely dreadful, one of the worst managers we've had. The replacement for Tunks (Moverley) was only marginally better.

Moncur spent more time on his yacht.
Sure he was good mates with the chairman at the time Smarty.

I would say he was definitely the worst Pools manager ever by some distance. Utterly useless.

It might not have been down to his management skills more his contacts but some of the players he signed I'd say would put him nowhere near our worst ever manager. Mind, I was mascot at home to Hereford in one of the games after he left and Pop Robson was in charge I had said that Rob McKinnon was my favourite player, I think I'd spent too much time having a kick about with Jade Sinclair by the time Frank Reid came to take my picture with my hero and the finest left back to ever wear the Pools shirt because he'd gone back in so my mascot photo was with another Rob, Moverley. A fella who made our two custodians from this season look like Gordon Banks.

Talking about keepers I'm sure in the 90/91 promotion season we had at least 3 maybe 4 difrent keepers.
Martin Hodge.
Kevin Poole
Muggleton? Etc!

Any statoes know!

Whilst I agree Moncur was not the greatest manager in the world I do believe he is right when he said when the crowd gets on a goalies back it’s time for him to go. We now have two who the crowd have just not taken too.

Nope, only 2 keepers that season, Brian Cox & Kevin Poole.