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| Hartlepool United 1 v 2 Swansea City |
Made the long trek back to make our usual report for anyone interested.
A pretty good turn out of Swans fans on the remote north eastern coast, about 60 or so we reckon, including Brian and Ade (nice to see you both again). A great ovation was given to the team as they walked onto the pitch, with a particular burst of aplause for Hollins and Curtis, who both made a point of acknowledging the crowd.
The result belied the performance to an extent. We did not play well in the first half; our passes went astray too often and we failed to force a clear cut chance. However, the defence was tight until Hartlepool scored a slightly flukey goal when Roger was a little slow in coming off his line. We nearly went 2 nil down when Roger inexplicably left a speculative shot, only to find it crash against the underside of the bar, bounce on the line into the path of an onrushing striker, who managed to head over. The steward (coincidentally the same one said the same thing at Darlington!) claimed the ball had crossed the line, but Englishmen do tend to try to claim that sort of thing don't they!
Presumably after a rollicking, the fight returned to the team in the second half - or maybe Hollins had an extra weeks supply of those "half time" tablets to dish out! We looked a lot tighter and Thomas and Cusack began to impose themselves a lot more. We nearly equalised when an excellent run and low cross from JJ Price was almost turned in by Alsop.
Strangely (!) the game turned completely with the removal of guess who......Aiden! Inexplicably JJ also departed to make way for Roberts. But it worked! Shortly after Alsop came close with a header which was well saved, and we even managed a brief song of "score in a minute". And we did - hero Alsop powering in a superb header from an Appleby corner. Hartlepool responded well and hit the post (we think!) from a low shot. They then appeared to have a pretty reasonable shout for a penalty turned down. At that point we felt that the luck was with us and we were immediatley rewarded with another storming header from that man Jules! Hartlepool virtually gave up after that.
The luck went with us but you cannot take away the fact that it was a terrific battling performance with plenty of guts and a real determination to win - the like of which we have not seen for several years. Scenes of great joy, as the team walked off, with players like Smith, Thomas and Alsop punching the air in delight. Tony Bird, who played well, kissed the badge on his shirt as he saluted the crowd. JH and AC walked off with their heads held high, if a little relieved.
To add to the debate, this was our first look at Newhouse this season, and we have to agree he is a useless lump of lard who clearly doesn't want to be there. If his selection in the team is intended to put him in the shop window, then it is doomed to failure. You don't buy shoddy goods just because they are in the window.
Other than that, well done the lads - made our trip back down the A1 very pleasant! Funnily enough we are now looking forward to Hull in 2 weeks time!!!!!(no 7-4 this time!)
Peter and Bethan
THERES ONLY ONE JULIAN ALSOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HARTLEPOOL Hollund 6 Knowles 6 Clark, I 6 Ingram 6 Lee 7 Di Lella 6 Brightwell 6 Stokoe 6 55 by Miller 6 Howard 7 Midgley 8* Stephenson 7 Subs not used: Irvine Hutt SWANSEA Freestone 6 Jones, S 6 Howard 7 Cusack 6 Smith 6 Bound 7 Price 8* 63 Roberts 6 Thomas 6 Alsop 7 Newhouse 5 63 Bird 6 Appleby 7 Subs not used: Jenkins YELLOW CARDS: Thomas 35 mins (foul)