Same old Pools after the Lord mayor's show?

0-1

Over to you lot.

Bromley are pretty much guaranteed to score at least one and don't concede many. Another 1-1 wouldn't be a surprise.

1-1 Crawford
245 Poolies

That's a small home crowd!

Bromley the third best defence in the NL so if we are going to score we will need to work hard. They lost 3-2 to Aldershot in midweek after being 2 up so the manager will be drilling them to defend better. We know they will score so it is a question of if we can outscore them (doubtful) or score the same number as them. Suspect a narrow loss but hope I am wrong.

Is there alternative live entertainment going on in the town on Saturday afternoon?

3245
Yes of course we are at home

Shopping at the Middleton Grange shopping centre followed by a tour of arson hit buildings then a game of "guess when the new railway station platform will be open" in the Rat Race.

See you at the match, Just wait outside the gates we will turn up soon.

Bromley really good yardstick. 0-0 haha

2-1 Hastie & Mani D

A stat. On talksport only two out of fifty corners end up as a goal. Obviously not watched Pools.

2 out of 50 corners - that's way above our scoring ratio, but way below our conceding ratio

1-2

It’s a reverse equation for Pools.

Aye but we play on grass, mostly.lol

0-3 Cheek Hat Trick, after we have 2 goals disallowed for no reason.

The captain and centre half Webster got red carded against Aldershot. He is the best and so far most consistent defender.The Bromley fans expected the good run to end and say it should have been against Flyde Saturday before. Some are saying " our luck was due to runout " because they have not played well lately. Looking at the wins achieved over last 8 games everyone was against poor sides.If we turn up Saturday we will beat this lot no problem.

This is going to be very tricky. Pools are well capable of scoring but can’t see us not conceding. A draw would be a good result but I see it as 1-2 or 1-3 to them

if they do not have a corner or a set piece out wide then i,d take a point now. on paper its the hardest game we have had for awhile and it will be interesting how we perform at least against a side near the top.

Were screwed if were scared to concede corners or free kicks. Couple of tough games coming up be surprised if we dont lose this one, 3 points would be a huge bonus.

Pool 0 bromley 1

Let’s look on the bright side…it won’t make any difference …..but this constant negativity is getting on my tits…which I don’t have by the way.
Let’s have some singing in the lifeboat.

Its a bit pointless saying were going to win if you actually think were probobly going to lose though. 3 points tommorow would be a huge step in the right direction, but until we stop conceding every game its going to be a struggle.

wonder if that ebbsfleet game was a changing point at the vic. we were second best for most of the game and still come out with something even though that something could have been more. we have lost games we should really have won so tomorrow could be interesting. trying to talk her in the kitchen up for the trip.

It'll be interesting to see if the result at York changes the moribund atmosphere at the Vic. To be fair, Poolies at home games haven't turned on the team (apart from the usual gobshites) but they haven't exactly been Pools' 12th man either. 'Course it's a two-way street and it's up to the players to give the fans something to cheer, but this season's poor home form has stunned most people into silence, even when the lads are attacking. Bit more required from the players and the fans!

what would be the best to get the fans excited. a durge of a game we eventually won by a single goal or a real back and forwards game where you could not blink but they came out on top without a defensive mistake either because they were the best of the two teams on view.

Hopefully a win tommorow and then a big crowd against Chesterfield will get the place rocking again, hard for atmosphere when your losing and the away end has about 40 in it.

The Ebbsfleet Massive could still be heard from the halfway line for long periods. That shouldn't be happening to a team that sends 1,500 noisy fans to York. Game after game this season the NWC has allowed itself to be outsung by 50-100 away fans. WTF?

We did it most of last season, Drawing games we should have won, Losing games we should have drawn.
Last season we should have comfortably stayed up, Wheather we deserved to or not.

The well known adage goes: "the league table doesn't lie". In my experience this is true.

Pools 4 them less than 4.
Mani D a brace, Cooke, Fev (pen).
Then I predict the usual suspects will focus more on goals conceded than the fact we won.
Obviously, I'll be absent Sat night and Sunday if we get tanked.

I like the idea of fans travelling in hope, not looking for the first man hole to fall down…be positive, it’s catching.

Neither does VAR,
Think the table does lie, just my thought.
Mind you don,t recall mentioning the table.

Aye and full blown Flu, Starts with a sniffle.

True you did not mention the league table but you stated "we should have comfortably stayed up". I merely pointed out that the league table indicated otherwise.

Probobly like most other fans sick of whats happened to the club over the last two years. Great mindset being positive like some are on here no matter what but when the club started banning quite a few of them, the nwc support for the club has probobly dropped off. They like everyone else need a lift.

Aye aknow what you mean Ozzy.

I reckon our lads will gel at last - Mani, Cook, Crawford and Hastie will run their defence ragged. Mattock and Feathers will be like a wall with attacking options in midfield and the back four and keeper won't have much to do all game.

(It'll still be 2 - 2 though because they'll get a free kick and a corner).

They might close the Town End!

I'll go 1-1

Crowd 3725
Bromley 45

Yeah, probably be a draw.

Funnily enough it seems strange to me in that our defenders play the ball out confidently from our goal area and don’t seem to lack confidence. But we concede mainly to set pieces and corners which you would have thought would have been the easiest thing to fix.

its always better to travel to away games if its atmosphere you are after. the big help no matter what the numbers are you are all in it together and not spread out across three sides of the ground. if the majority and singing and shouting you,ll join in even if you are quiet at the vic.

After more or less every game Askey says in his post match interviews they practice defending set pieces in training but for some reason the defence switch of in an actual game.

might be worth a try for those who cannot defend to get them staying upfield. that would force the other team to bring players back to defend making the penalty area less crowded to defend.

Thats true, he says they have shown our players the oppo runs at set plays.
And given our players instructions with regard to zones they should be covering.

Now call me old fashioned but how about just TELLING the players to pick a man and stick with him
There is more than enough time at set pieces to do this.
Then if a player scores they know exactly whos fault it is.

Maybe thats too easy.

I have said this a few times, don’t bring all players into the box defend set pieces, forwards aren’t that good at defending either. If the opposing team has a big centre half they bring the striker back to mark him, no leave the striker on the halfway line ready for a quick break away.

Simple maths:

At a corner the oppo have a player taking the corner, and a keeper.
That leaves them with 9 spare players.
So if we put 2 on the halfway line, They would probably need another 3 back defending.
That leaves them with 6 to attack the corner, And us with 9 to defend the corner.

Simplified:
Coaching(over) really does f--k up the game sometimes.

When i say on the halfway line i mean 30yds apart.
Defenders hate to be isolated, They tend to do stupid things.

I suppose one measure of whether a team "should have stayed up" is how they do the following season in the league below. The Pools side that Martin Scott and then Paul Stephenson somehow managed to relegate from League One in 2006 came straight back up again in 2007.

Pools are currently behind Rochdale in the NL, which suggests that relegation is no more than we deserved last season. Crawley are in mid-table in League 2 at the minute (though their form is slipping) so they look to have made good use of their narrow escape. Of course, there's still time for things to turn around by May!

See that Sutton are still bottom of League 2 and Tranmere and Grimsby are really struggling. I'll be happy if Sutton and the Forest Green Veggies stay where they are and take the drop.

2-1 until late in the game and through lack of concentration concede an equaliser, making the final result 2-2.
3869 with 154 Bromley boys

To The Hartlepool 2-0. Another pint of optimism please. Thank you. 3,640 81