A tense finish yesterday as Town dominated a game and scored just twice whilst hartlepool had spells of control but didnt deserve anything almost got a point.

2 minutes were on the clock when the first refeering blunder of the day ( or should i say the ref bottled it) happened. Pawel Abbot tapped the ball past the keeper and looked to run onto the ball and probably score from inside the box, the goalkeeper clearly pushed him to the ground to stop his progress and the ref waved played on. Obviously, 2 minutes was too early for this ref to make a decision of a penalty and a red card for the keeper.

Luckily we didnt have to wait long for a goal, Andy Holdsworth played a superb pass from inside his own half for Pav to run onto , and he had plenty of time to compose himself before sliding it past the keeper ,. Town were well in control at this stage and Danny Schofield's close control brought a 2nd goal on 18 mins after a scramble in the 6 yard box, Danny took control and dribbled it into a goal scoring oppurtunity from 6 yards and calmly slotted home.

Great! , A bag full of goals must surely follow , and really we should have gone in at half time at least 3 if not 4 -0 up.

However the Hartlepool boss obviously had a good half time prep talk and his 2 substitutes combined and Boyd powered a great strike past Rachubka from 25 yards on 52 mins and Town looked to get the wobbles. The doom merchants in the crowd were mumbling a 3-2 defeat was on the cards as Hartlepool got control and had a couple of great chances to score.

But Town being Town it wouldn't be the same if we didnt have our nails bitten down to the core would it ? Pav should have had another pen given when a clumsy challenge upended him but again the ref played on, we got in control again and it was an entertaining game which to much relief finished 2-1 .

My thoughts on it were that despite misssing 4 regulars already through injury (Booth, MacIntosh, Mirfin and Hudson) we still looked a good team creating many chances. My only concern is defending corners. Without the height and strength of Mirfin, MacIntosh and Booth we look susceptible at corners and at Doncaster thats my worry where Doncaster will score from.

Could do with Boothy back at Doncaster , just for that reason, i thought GTF had some great touches and offers us a diffrent option up front but at Doncaster with the height of their team we need to defend corners better.

Overall another good win , although being picky i would say we should have had Hartlepool buried at half time.

Ratings.

Rachubka 7 (some great saves , kicking still terrible though!,
Holdsworth 8 excellent passing and tackling),
Adams 7,(solid and a good talker at th back)
Clarke T 7(looked a bit nervy early on but improved),
Clarke N, 7(usual odd mistake but in general looked good)
Brandon 7, (looks to be adapting to new wing role quite well)
Schofield 7, *(ditto.....)
Worthington 7, (good tackling and simple passing )
Collins 7 decent game but tired )(sub Carss 7, energetic last 15 mins),
GTF 7( perhaps too many fancy flicks at times , seems over confident at times, tired towards end) ,
Abbott 7 (usual good finish for 1st goal).Rumours of departure to Sheff utd this week still being mentioned , hope its all a load of bollocks!)

In the post match buzz decided to go and stand in that crap Belle Vue ground again despite once saying i'd never go back to that shit tip , hope its worthwhile , a point will do me ).

By David Clegg from the Blue-Army mailing list.