Starts at 6pm with stream starting at 5.40 for under a tenner (£9.99)

0-2 loss

Sea Gull numbers much reduced. Many have died of starvation due to the absence of discarded junk food since March.

We will lose not paying £9.99 to watch it either.

Pools 0 Stockport County 0. Cancelled out. Stream is poor. It pisseth down.

Was looking forward to the Brentford v Newcastle game after our game, but both kick off around the same time.

Got a bad feeling about this one, similar to the feeling I had prior to Torquay. Cass, our best player so far this season will be a big miss, but the signing of Sterry should help but think Stockport will have too much nous for us. Also Kitching and MSH have something to prove against old club, and Croasdale likewise coming up against his old manager. Also have one of the divisions best midfielders in John Rooney.

The signings of Bunney and Sterry reek of desperation, especially in a side whose forwards struggle to find the net, Challinors recruitment in the summer looks worse by the day.

Pools 1 v 3 Stockport

Kitching to score for them - hopefully not a double like Gus.

Opinions, arseholes and all that. I think Cass has been one of our weakest links so far this season. Happy to see he’s got a bit of competition now.

Hopefully see Ofosu get a start tonight. We haven’t been the same team since he was dropped

they have a piss poor record at the vic like we have at their place. my lad supports em and says their results have been far better than their performances. got a feeling pools will get it right for once with a 2-1 win.

Cass has made mistakes, made 2 at Halifax, but sometimes that comes about, through getting involved in the game, other players don't make mistakes because they don't go after the ball.

If you don't think he has been our best, I would like to know who you think has.

Ofusu ! really ?

As you say though, opinions are like arseholes

These are the type of games we have won in the past, the ones where a lot of the fans have given up/lost interest and expect us to get beat. All depends if there is any team spirit and desire left, after the chopping and changing of the last few weeks

Cass best player Really!!!

He,s a young lad learning the game, So therefore he,s going to make mistakes.
But some of his mistakes have lead directly to goals, As i say young lad learning.

As for better players , Ferguson, Shelton,Featherstone(by a country mile)
Odusina, Johnson,Holohan, etc etc.

"Bunney and Sterry reek of desperation" Again really!!!

Both young(ish) with League experience and a point to prove, Would you have rather
have a youngster on loan from the league, Now that is a gamble.

And opinions are nothing like Arseholes!!!

On a similar page Barry. Might change my view before kick off but am currently very much of the 'can't be arsed' opinion...............

But then I worry - what if this is the last game before another lockdown or, indeed, ever.

Yeah his mistakes have often lead to goals. Positionally he’s all over the place for a right back and doesn’t have the pace to get back and forward.

Featherstone has been our best player by a country mile.

Yeah Ofosu. We won 3 and drew 2 of our first 5 games with him in the team, scoring plenty of goals. Then he was inexplicably dropped from the squad for Torquay and has hardly featured since. One of our biggest problems this year has been forward players not being able to hold onto the ball to either drive at the defence or hold onto it for midfielders to catch up. Ofosu is good at both. No idea why he has been left out of the team for so long.

could end up the new mafuta next season.

Ofosu started Pools first 4 games. He was left out for the Ilkeston cup tie, with Molyneux coming back after injury, and again on the bench for the Altrincham game. Since then, as you say, he has pretty much disappeared from view.

In The Mad Crowd seems to be pretty much the only place where it's easy to keep track of who was playing when this season. Like the Featherstone/Donaldson 'fan' who said Pools never win with those two in the team. Featherstone played in all 5 of Pools' NL wins to date and Donaldson started in 4 of them. Mind you, they've both played in most of Pools' defeats as well

Yeah that was me, was a bit unfair to say we never win when they play but if we actually went back and looked at the records of these two players, I think we would find they are a pretty shocking set of results. Home form in particular has been dreadful when these two play. Most of our cup upsets in recent times Blyth etc they have been apart of, we have even conceded against 9 men, so much for midfield dominance. I just thing that the rest of the midfield has been that bad we now see Featherstone as a must not drop, crazy really when we had a decent team years ago he wouldn’t of made it on the bench.

We have said countless times every season if you keep resigning featherstone and Donaldson they will get you the sack. Every season they see off another manager. I will hold my hands up Featherstone was excellent for 15 games or so last year, thing is good midfielders are excellent for 30 to 35 games every season and not one in eight.

Should be winning....2...2 Draw then. Uninterrupted radio Dab..unless Boris interrupts commentary to tell us it's tier 4 for all.

Got to ask what the rest of the squad was doing in the seasons when Featherstone and Donaldson were 'getting managers the sack.' Harrison signed some truly useless players, even for this level. Bates and Hignett got moved on because they couldn't take the team any higher. Challinor was nowhere near the sack when last season was terminated.

The squad has gone backwards this season and the pressure in right on the senior players:
https://www.hartlepoolmail.co.uk/sport/ ... 741?r=9649

Don’t get me wrong It hasn’t just been down to them, we have had worse players, how many times in recent years though have we dominated games in midfield? We tend to get overrun by anyone and everyone even part time teams dominate us second half of games usually. We play against ten men we still struggle. Featherstone has had plenty of praise but what does he actually do apart from keep the game simple? Doesn’t score, rarely creates, can’t defend particularly well? Is this really as good as we can get? Would a Torquay or barrow swap any of their midfielders for him? I’d seriously doubt it. Surely he needs to do more? Ok playing 5 yard balls but what is coming from it, opposition must love playing against us because every ball is sideways.I don’t get the love in with managers about him. He certainly hasn’t helped them keep their jobs for long.

As for Donaldson I just don’t see what he brings to the team at all apart from maybe a player who is willing to accept less money each year.

The team has massively gone backwards but what did we expect? Last year we had a bit of class in toure, James on his rare days, southam hales and a poacher in Keena. This season is like a lottery of cheap garbage pooped together in the hope we get to 50 points. Challinor will of worked miracles to get this lot mid table let alone top 7.

Home banker.
6th top at 8pm.

The fact you point out things like ‘he doesn’t score enough, or assist enough’ isn’t the dig at featherstone you think it is. He is a defensive midfielder. It’s the job of the other two to create and score goals. The fact he generally pops up with a couple of goals a season (think he was our fifth top scorer last year) and a few assists is fantastic.

He allows our team a break by being so composed on the ball. He should then be giving it to the creative/attacking players on our team to score goals, or, as is sometimes the case, he recycles the ball when our forwards run as far away from the ball as they possibly can.

Without him in the team we become hoof ball merchants, and whilst that may be the football you wish to see, unfortunately our team isn’t suited to it

How do you know we become hoofball merchants without him? He plays every single game barring 45 mins Saturday. We don’t appear to be suited to passing the ball sideways either or we would possibly be doing better than we are.

Challinor reckons he is our best player, that says it all for me Featherstone is consistent, nothing more nothing less. He might be even better with a central midfielder alongside him who could head a ball or he might be even better in a better team, but not in a million years will we get out of this league with him as our midfield lynchpin, surely the last few seasons tell you that.

So basically , he is doing his job , though other defensive midfielders in this division probably do the same job better. Hoof ball or tikka taka , we lose more games than we win regardless. Featherstone is a bog standard non league player , to get back into the FL we need players of league 2 quality, especially in central midfield or the holding role. Featherstone I'm afraid isn't one.

Lets just hope this next lockdown does not include elite sport.

Never a dull moment with team selection at the minute. Killip back in goal, 5 at the back, Shelton and Oates in, Donaldson, Crawford and Bunney dropped to the bench.

Well ok... except for the goalkeeper selection.

Just hoping to stumble on something that works.

I think he draws the team out of a hat!!!

Is the link to the stream on the website?

Yepp, he does his job. Which is more than can be said of the other 10 in the starting line up (on a regular basis, anyway), hence he is our best player. He is certainly not a bog standard non-league player whatever your view on him is.

Just cant find it. Logically it should be under "pools tv" but nothing there.

Any ideas?

Going to listen on Radio Tees.

Good start

Great to be in front but the last 20 minutes like watching paint dry. Pools don't have anyone on the pitch who can take a man on from a standing start - get Grey on, one of the centre backs off and go for the second goal!

Why haven't we put 3 up front? And taken a centre back off we are playing 9 men Ffs. Has the manager got no faith in this squad, I mean 9 men puking hell.

4-0. Very happy with that.

5th in the table. What an unreal season - if Dover win their 5 games in hand they'll be level on points with us. At the minute they're bottom!

Gonna be so many games postponed with Covid the season has next to no chance of finishing in June - if it finishes at all.

Wonder what odds any bookie would have given for a 4-0 home win against Stockport ?

Nice to get a win against promotion favourites, slightly strange tactics from Challinor when they only had 9 men. Let’s see if they can back it up on Boxing Day. He certainly needed that win did Challinor.

To The Hartlepool 4-0! Great to be proved wrong. Was that a record for Featherstone passes?

Great win but why does the official site show we have played one more game than we actually have. I pointed this out weeks ago for goodness sake.

Much needed 3 points, buying DC a little more time. Seems strange saying that when we are 5th, but it doesn't and has never felt like that, and our true position is probably more like 12th. One thing for certain is the next 3 games will show us where we really are.

Difficult to analyse the merits of the result when you are playing against 9 men, but for what its worth, from what I gathered , I think we would've won, regardless of the sending offs, maybe not 4-0 but 1-0 or 2-0. We clearly caught Stockport on an off day, as well as not playing too shabbily ourselves, putting away chances what would've previously been missed and avoiding the usual errors in defence, all of coursed helped by playing against 10 men for 84 mins and 9 for 35 mins. The new lad Sterry made a good start, seems well liked at South Shields and maybe just maybe he might be one of those players who disappeared under the radar, similar to Ferguson, early days yet though , as its not uncommon for someone to put in a good shift on their first day at work. Good to see Armstrong get amongst the goals, as since Kings Lynn he had done very little. displays a Joe Allon like predatory instinct in the box. If he can keep it up, Armstrongs goals should ensure we finish at least mid table with a feint chance of the play offs. A goal for Oates will give him confidence if nothing else , and Johnson keeps popping up now and again with a goal, which is what a good centre half should do.

All in all just one of those nights where the ball drops for you and you get the rub of the green. Other clubs get daft wins like this , in this crazy division , last night it was our turn for a bit of good fortune.

Pros-
Armstrong goals
Sterry
Second consecutive home win , whilst keeping a clean sheet
Magloire and Johnson partnership
Better all round and more determined display. I actually think the sendings off came as a result of us getting in their faces early doors.

Cons-
Yet more chopping and changing from DC
Grey not finding the net, though I think Stockport parked the bus at 3 down , making it difficult for us to break them down, nevertheless it was still 11 v 9. It would've been nice had Grey got the 4th.

At least the gloom has momentarily lifted prior to going into 3 difficult Xmas period fixtures. I think defeat last night could have set the scene for a real slump, hopefully last nights result will give the players a lift.

Credit where credit is due - the opening goal from Rhys Oates was a terrific solo effort that set up the win - at a time when Stockport still had 11 on the pitch. If an unknown quantity like Joe Grey or Josh MacDonald had scored that goal a lot more people would be raving about it. Let's hope it gives him the confidence to knock a few more in - goal every 6 games for Morecambe in League 2 suggests he's capable of getting on the scoresheet more regularly in the NL.





Oates is at his most dangerous in the early stages of the game

I said before, he will always get a goal every now and then, ( I'm sure I would've got one myself by now ) and he got that goal last night, this time it went in off the post rather than off the post and out for a goal kick. As I said above, last night we got the rub of the green. I am pleased for him, and I do hope he goes on to get more, but I doubt it, his career so far doesn't back it up, and whilst he does have some redeemable qualities , I just don't think he is good enough to play in a team with promotion aspirations.

last nights win means nothing if we cannot build on it. go out and get beaten in the next 2 then its back to the drawboard once again. need a bit of an unbeaten run for confidence even if we draw more than win.

That has always been the problem. Clearly the fact we are 5th tells you , the inconsistency is not just confined to us, but generally to finish near the top in any league table, at some point a team needs to win 4 or 5 on the bounce or go 10 or 12 unbeaten, I just can't envisage this happening with the current squad , but at some time it will need to happen.

Credit to Chall's I think he got the tactics right last night, Stockport were completely nullified, can't remember them having a decent effort on goal during the full game, Halifax beating Eastleigh last night (imo one of the best teams in this league) shows maybe Saturday's result was not too bad either.

The 3 at the back proved to be spot on, would like to think it was deliberate , rather just a case of " if he keeps chopping and changing he's bound to get lucky sooner or later " scenario. Not only did Challinor get it right, probably Stockport manager got his tactics wrong. It seems to be the fashion amongst managers these days, to chop and change their team and tactics on a game by game basis. Though the game has changed and I can see the merits of changing players and tactics dependent on the opposition, I still believe successful football comes from playing the same team and formation week in week out. Its good footballers , skilful, clever and strong who win football matches not formations or constant chopping and changing. There is so much bullshit around in the modern game, about rotating , tactics and formation.

He played 3 at the back (Cass, Magloire, Johnson) with Donaldson and Ferguson as wing backs in the cup tie at Salford. It worked a treat for 105 minutes - especially after conceding 5 the week before against Torquay.

I don't think there's any doubt it was a deliberate ploy and one we'll see again against the likes of Notts County - probably stay with it on Saturday too as we conceded soft goals to Halifax in the FA Trophy game. It's not Challinor's natural preference but worth doing against the better sides while confidence is low.

Worked a treat after 105 minutes? really ?

If it works a treat , why change it? If its not DCs natural preference , what is? and why does he use it?

As clear as a Boris Johnson Coronavirus briefing

Is confidence low? if it was, why should it be now , after a 4-0 win. Sounds like you are making a case for us parking the bus at Notts County.

Dunno, what seems better to you? Conceding 5 goals in 90 minutes at home to an NL side or 2 in 120 minutes away to a League 2 side?

Challinor is on record a number of times as saying that his preference is a 4-3-3. He explained in his post-match interview why he'd gone for something different against Stockport and what he hoped to achieve. You posted the link to it, so I assume you had a listen?

As the change of formation paid off there's every reason to think he'll stick with it down at County. Personally I don't see it as parking the bus - or chopping and changing for the sake of it either. Any sort of positive result at Meadow Lane would be very welcome.

There’s not a worse tactic than playing the same way week in week out. It becomes predictable and easy to play against. Unless you have a team that’s by far the best in the league, which ours clearly isn’t.

DC needs to go back to what worked for him last season and what worked against Stockport - picking a team that stops the opponents strengths first and foremost.