The New Boys : Hartlepool United

By Nathan Jackson
June 14 2006

Hartlepool United have returned to this division after 3 years away and were very close to breaking their playoff curse. The Pool are one of the pre-season favourites to win the division and we now take a look at how a team struggling against relegation got close to playing in the Championship

Just a small handful of years ago, Hartlepool were arguably one of the smallest football clubs in the football league and were battling against relegation every year but then towards the end of the 90’s, an oil company called IOR brought the club and the club suddenly because one of the best teams in the division. Ken Hodcroft was chosen by IOR to be the new chairman and he set about making sure that the club not only stopped struggling but also took major steps forward.

Under Chris Turner, an exciting young manager who had played at Sincil Bank in his playing days, Pool made the playoffs for the first time in the 1999/2000 season but lost out to local rivals Darlington. One year later and they were unlucky not to win automatic promotion and again failed in the playoffs, this time to Blackpool. However, a perfect example of Pool’s luck in the playoffs came in 2001/2. Ritchie Humpreys, a signing from Sheffield Wednesday stepped up against Cheltenham to take the deciding penalty in a penalty shoot out. The ball hit the bar, the post and then the back of the goalkeeper but still stayed out of the goal and Pool were eliminated in the semi-finals again.

The next season however and Hartlepool meant business and quickly found themselves at the top of the league. A few early home defeats included a home game to Rushden which turned out to be ironic. Pool lead for a long time but late on in the game, Rushden equalised and went on to win, it would be the story of Hartlepool’s season. Hartlepool had continued to set the pace at the top of the table and when they came to Sincil Bank in March, they had a huge lead at the top of the table but the Imps ran away as 3-0 winners despite being on the back foot for most of the game. Hartlepool fell apart and won just 3 games after that, however, they did have the perfect chance to win the title on the final day.

Pool travelled down the Rushden, a team who were on the up at the time and were a point above Hartlepool. If Hartlepool won, they would win the lead and although promotion was secured with a 4-0 defeat at Scunthorpe a few weeks previously (results went their way), it would be disappointing to finish 2^{nd after leading for so long. Paul Hall scored in the first half for Hartlepool before the northerners had a goal ruled out. However, Chris Westwood equalised late on but it was too late and Hartlepool finished second. It was a good thing that Westwood did score though because if Hartlepool had lost, they would have finished 3rd as Wrexham beat Bury 3-0 that day.}

Hartlepool were made favourites to be relegated straight back into what was then Division 3 and for around 60 minutes in their first game, it looked to be a good bet because they were 3-1 down at Peterborough United, however, a quick comeback was rounded of by Michael Nelson, a summer signing from Bury, releasing an unstoppable shot from 35 yards to win the game for Hartlepool. A few weeks later came the 12th of September and Grimsby Town made their way to Victoria Park and it was a thriller all the way. A 9 goal affair was one of the most memorable games of the season for both sets of fans. Hartlepool’s remember it for the win and Grimsby fans remember it because they scored just 1 of the 9 goals, yes, Hartlepool beat Grimsby 8-1, a score that no league side has come close to replicating since.

Hartlepool continued to be impressive but then on boxing day came something that Hartlepool hadn’t tasted in a long time. It had been around 16 months since Rushden had won at Victoria Park and they had been the last away team to win at Hartlepool but then came Barnsley who won 2-1 to end Hartlepool’s record of having the longest run at home without a defeat in the country.

Their form fell apart for a few weeks but a 5-2 away win at Port Vale in the snow changed their season around but it still seemed that Pool would be lucky to make the playoffs so they brought back Adam Boyd from a loan spell at Boston United and if the Pilgrim had a bit more money, Boyd would have made the move to Boston permanent. As it turned out, Hartlepool’s season really took off and soon after he returned, Hartlepool won 5 games in a row that propelled them into a playoff place and a final day draw at Swindon confirmed that.

Hartlepool drew Bristol City in the playoffs and the Robins took the lead in the first leg at Victoria Park but Joel Porter equalised. Hartlepool should have had the opportunity to take the lead when Eifion Williams was brought down in the area by Steve Phillips (City’s keeper) in one of the most blatant penalties you’re ever likely to see. However, the game ended 1-1 and the return game was played on the same day that Lincoln went out to Huddersfield. Hartlepool had taken the lead and looked certain to go through until Christian Roberts scored twice in the final 3 minutes to send the Robins through.

So the 2004/5 season started with a 2-1 win at home to Bradford. It was a good start, especially considering that the club hadn’t brought in many new players over the summer. However, in a similar way to City, Pool’s second game was against a team that they would meet in the playoffs and it ended 2-1 to Tranmere after Hugh Robertson had delivered a beautiful free kick from 35 yards.

Pool’s start to the season was quite inconsistent and whilst they were brilliant at home, they struggled away from home and lost 9 away games in a row at the beginning of the year before a 5-1 victory at Wrexham. Hartlepool really hit form in November and won 7 of their 11 games before January, including a 3-0 win over City in the FA Cup. The good form continued into the new year before a complete freak of a result appeared to be putting a halt to Pool’s promotion prospects.

As mentioned before, Wrexham were smashed 5-1 at home by Hartlepool but at Victoria Park, Wrexham not only got the 3 points, they got revenge in one of the most unimaginable ways possible. When you score 4 at home, you expect to at the very minimum get a draw and even that would be viewed as not being good enough but when you score 4 and lose, it’s not good enough, especially when the opposition scored 6 and just like Hartlepool’s 8-1 win over Grimsby, no-one has come close to equalling this since.

That was the 2nd defeat in what turned out to be a run of 5 defeats in 6 games and Hartlepool seriously struggled to make the playoffs. In the final home game of the season, Pool lost 3-1 to struggling Walsall and the following week, Neale Cooper left Victoria Park as manager and his assistant, Martin Scott was put in charge of team affairs and a final day draw at Bournemouth was enough to see the Pool through into the playoffs and they were due to face Tranmere in the semi-finals.

Pool had previous played 8 playoff games and not won a single one but a brace from Adam Boyd gave Pool a 2-0 advantage to take to Prenton Park, that advantage didn’t last thought as Tranmere scored twice late on and the game eventually found it’s way into penalties. After a while, Ritchie Humpreys had the chance to redeem himself for the penalty against Cheltenham 4 years previous and the former Sheffield Wednesday man scored to set up a final against his former employers.

Wednesday took the lead in the final but goals from Eifion Williams and Jon Daly soon put the Pool into the lead and the men from Victoria Park were just 10 minutes away from the Championship when Chris Westwood fouled a player in the area and was sent off and Wednesday scored the penalty before scoring twice in extra-time to go into the Championship and it was back to square one.

Martin Scott was appointed as the new manager and again, the squad was hardly changed, after all, why would you change a winning squad, only Keith Alexander does that. Bradford were the visitors to Victoria Park again on the first day but a 2-0 defeat was just a sign of things to come.

Hartlepool’s first victory came in an away trip to Doncaster Rovers, however that would be the only victory in the first 7 games and it was far from a decent start to the season but they did get a good result against the team that beat them in the playoffs little over a year previously as they won 1-0 at Bristol City. However, that run came in the middle of a run of 4 defeats in 6 games.

It looked as though their season had turned around when they won 4 games in a row but that was followed by 5 defeats in 7 and Hartlepool were in huge trouble and in the middle of the season, went 10 games without a win and all of a sudden, a season that had looked promising had turned into a relegation battle.

Just a short time after Lincoln had put Keith Alexander on leave, Hartlepool did the same to Martin Scott before he was eventually sacked and youth team coach, Paul Stephenson was put in charge and Hartlepool went into the final day on the back of a miserable run that had seen them win twice in the last 20 games but survival was still possible if they beat Port Vale, a team who they had scored freely against in some of the most recent games. A above average home crowd of nearly 7,000 couldn’t save Hartlepool though as they drew 1-1 and were relegated.

Paul Stephenson announced he wouldn’t be attempting to apply for the vacant management seat at Hartlepool but recently hired experienced manager, Danny Wilson as their manager and he has the experience in the Premiership to be a success in this division. Hartlepool were hoping to face Wolverhampton, Southampton, Leeds, Preston and Sunderland next season but are now left with games against Darlington, Torquay, Wrexham, Barnet and Wycombe, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to see why they’re disappointed but will their luck finally change?