Hartlepool United continue to falter in front of their faithful

Half an hour before kick off on an overcast afternoon in Hartlepool, the mood amongst the United fans was that of scepticism.

Tuesday’s 1-1 draw with Barnet had seen the Pools extend their run of home games without a win to six, after spurning an early lead in a well-fought contest which saw a hatful of chances come and go.

Crawley Town were todays visitors, another team struggling at the wrong end of the League Two table, starting today’s proceedings two points behind the Monkey Hangers.

So used to playing in the shadow of the Premier League, today’s fixture felt like a supporting act at best in the North East area with Sunderland and Newcastle’s Super Sunday clash being the “water-cooler conversation” of the week. But the game itself was well attended, with 3,262 making the trip to Victoria Park (87 of whom had made the long haul up from Sussex).

With Sunderland just twenty five minutes north on the train, there was a suspicion that some heads in the seaside town could turn towards the Sky Sports blockbuster on Sunday. But there is no denying that the two corresponding fixtures offer valuable experiences no matter what the standard on the pitch and the match day attendance reflected that.

I spoke to five Scandinavians outside the ground who had come over specially for both games this weekend.

“We came here (Hartlepool) to see a little bit of British” said Martin, the one Norwegian of the group.

“The people selling the tickets are local kids, it feels more genuine.”

I spoke to local fan Robert from Seaton, about whether it made a difference when the Pools played on a different day to the Tyne & Wear teams.

“Definitely, without a doubt. You could have a better quality of games at Newcastle, Middlesbrough, you’re not gonna pay that much more really. But it’s more for the kids (Hartlepool), definitely.”

The atmosphere inside the ground lacked the positivities I had heard in the surrounding streets. BBC Sussex described Victoria Park as “absolutely dead, a bit like a pre-season friendly” after the Pools left the pitch at half time to a chorus of boos.
The first half had unceremoniously passed, with the home side highly fortunate to not to concede on several occasions.

It took 64 minutes for the game to come alive, but it did so in dramatic style. A brisk Crawley attack saw Hartlepool keeper Trevor Carson make a clever save from striker Rhys Murphy before the rebound struck defender Scott Harrison on the arm.

The red was hastily brandished and the disconsolate defender made his way to the showers, shaking his head as he dredged off the pitch. To add insult to injury, former Hartlepool midfielder Simon Walton was the man to step up, and he confidently drilled the penalty home to the keeper’s right.

Cries of “1-0 to the referee” rang out, and the decision was certainly a contentious one. With the ball moving at pace, Harrison made no deliberate movement of his arm towards the ball and Hartlepool intimated after the game that an appeal was being considered.

It went from bad to worse 11 minutes later as Town made it 0-2. An astute cross from midfielder Gwion Edwards after some clever build-up play saw Murphy race in again, wrapping his right foot round the ball and finding the near corner with ease.

79 minutes on the clock and 10-man Hartlepool finally got a foot in the game. A corner from the right hand side was met by the head of captain Billy Paynter, who whilst leaning back, looped the ball back across goal into the top right hand corner to make it 1-2.

Five minutes added time indicated by the fourth official brought the home crowd to life. A last-gasp effort from striker Rakish Bingham could have seen an unlikely comeback completed, but Crawley held on to a well-earned victory which saw them leapfrog the Pools in the League Two table.

It ended a frustrating afternoon all-round for Hartlepool, who really failed to get out of first gear until the 80th minute, awoken by one piece of brilliance by veteran captain Billy Paynter. Ronnie Moore held no punches in expressing his own feelings about the lacklustre performance.

“What annoys me more than anything else is how a set of professional footballers can actually put in a performance like that in the first 45 minutes” said the Hartlepool boss.

“There are some great talkers, but not many doers…today I think I found out some real answers to the question I already knew really about certain people, and I will not fall into that trap again.”

Ronnie Moore singled out Rhys Oates as the only player who he wouldn’t have taken off at half-time, and the striker-turned-winger was similarly perplexed by proceedings. When asked why the team seemed to struggle at home, the new man was at a loss to explain it.

“I don’t know whether it’s confidence, scared of playing in front of a home crowd, if it’s not going our way then people getting on our backs, but we should expect that really if we are not playing the way we should be playing.”

The result leaves the Pools 19th in League Two, trailing both Barnet and Crawley who have taken points away from Victoria Park this week.

Hartlepool will be hoping the FA Cup draw on Monday can hand them a home tie that could breath some much-needed confidence into Victoria Park.

Final Score: Hartlepool United 1, Crawley Town 2.