Pools prove they can match the best (From The Advertiser Series)

Pools prove they can match the best

8:40am Monday 23rd November 2009

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Huddersfield Town 2 Hartlepool United 1

FOR Chris Turner, Huddersfield Town at the Galpharm Stadium proved what League One is all about this season.

It should also have proved his Hartlepool United side is capable of matching and competing with the division’s best.

Huddersfield have spent a small fortune to try and reach the Championship, and possess a playing budget and average crowds which dwarf Pools.

Yet as victory moved Lee Clark’s side into third spot and ended Pools’ five-game run without defeat, the home side – 20 goals in their previous four home games – needed every bit of desire, effort and ability to get there.

“We are playing a side who have a lot of quality,’’ reflected Turner.

“Standing on the sidelines it’s hard watching when you are under the cosh, there’s a big difference between the clubs.

“We are up there and trying to get right up there where Huddersfield are and they are on the crest of a wave at the moment.

“Some of the boys came out with credit – we had to do a lot of defending, a lot of heading, a lot of blocks.

“But it’s like when a smaller Premier League club goes to somewhere like Anfield or Old Trafford – that’s what we are up against in this division when we go to Leeds on Boxing Day and then later to Norwich and Southampton.

“That’s what we are up against. They have lots of players who have quality, power and strength, with a crowd right behind them.

“It’s like playing against a train at times and it’s tough to get going.

“We did OK going forward in the first-half, but not so well in the second, losing easy possession or not fighting hard enough to get it back.

But I cannot knock the effort of the players, although sometimes the difference was there to see.’’ Pools were on the back foot for the majority of the second half, as Huddersfield pressed and chased a way back into the game.

They defended magnificently throughout, with central defenders Gary Liddle and Sam Collins majestic.

They’ve both been on top of their game all season, but on Saturday took their dominance and partnership to a new level.

Even before he headed Pools in front, Liddle had won countless headers and tackles to keep Clark’s side away from danger.

His goal – his first in League One since March 2008 came when he met Neil Austin’s perfectly curled free-kick six yards from goal and planted his header high into the net.

One goal to the good and within minutes it could have been two.

This time Colin Larkin, lively and inventive in the firsthalf before he pulled a hamstring in the second period, crossed for Adam Boyd.

After peeling off his marker at the far post, Boyd’s header beat keeper Alex Smithies and was about to become his third goal in as many league games.

But Peter Clarke got behind Smithies to block on the line and, after the ball rolled across goal, right back Lee Peltier was there to make sure it didn’t go in.

Pools were under the cosh from then until half-time, but with the organised orangeshirted players willing to put their bodies on the line for the cause – a minute before the interval Ritchie Humphreys dived in front of a goalbound Antony Kay shot – they were able to take a lead into the break.

There was no doubt that Huddersfield would go at Pools from the start of the half And how they did.

Each time Pools failed to clear, a home player made the most of it, yet there was no panic about the home play, their measured approached kept asking endless questions.

Anthony Pilkington cracked a free-kick against the bar from 25 yards. Soon after when Collins was wrongly ruled to have fouled Lee Novak, he was allowed another go.

This time his dead ball curled around the wall, off the outside of the post, and back at goal via the thighs of the unfortunate Peter Hartley.

It was the lift Huddersfield needed, but they weren’t about to sit on it. Instead, leftback Robbie Williams got forward and found space to drill a right-footed shot past Scott Flinders.

“We played better in the first-half than second, but when things keep coming back at you it’s hard to get back into the fight.

“As much as we tried to encourage and keep them going, every time we made a mistake they latched onto it and kept the pressure on,’’ added Turner.

“A goal looked like coming and it did.

“Yet our goalkeeper, OK they hit the bar and hit the post, but not many of the efforts were on goal. But I felt the equaliser came from a free-kick which shouldn’t have been given.

“It ended up as an own goal, which was very unfortunate.

The winning goal came when the first defender – Neil Austin – came out and couldn’t go in like he wanted because he was already on a yellow card.

“But we showed him inside onto his weaker foot and he struck it well. There’s always disappointment to concede, but we took a lot of pressure.’”

Match facts

Goals:

0-1: Liddle (18, powerful six-yard header from a curling Austin freekick)

1-1: Hartley og (55, free kick cracked off a post and back towards goal via defender’s legs)

2-1: Williams (66, ran at and through the defence before drilling in right-footed)

Bookings: Boyd (unsporting behaviour 28), Liddle (foul 31); Austin (foul, 39); Kay (unsporting behaviour 51)

Referee: Paul Tierney (Wigan): His first League One game and he can only improve. A rubbish display which bewildered both sides at times 3

Attendance: 14,836

Entertainment: ✰✰✰✰

2 HUDDERSFIELD TOWN (4-4-2):

Smithies 6; Peltier 6, P Clarke 7, N Clarke 7, Williams 8; Roberts 7, Collins 6, Kay 6, PILKINGTON 8; Rhodes 6, Novak 6 (Robinson 76). Subs (not used): Goodwin, Ainsworth, Berrett, Butler, T Clarke, Glennon (gk)

HARTLEPOOL UNITED (4-4-2):

6 Flinders: Under pressure for a lot of the time, but without ever being overworked or overstretched;

7 Austin: An immense firsthalf ended with a booking which affected his secondhalf outlook

9 Collins: Just like he does most weeks he was dominant; a different player to last season

9 LIDDLE: Won tackle after tackle, header after header from start to finish

6 Hartley: Was up against it as Huddersfield attacked the flanks, and could do nothing about his own goal;

8 Larkin: Full of running and always bright enough to try and get past his opponent on the flank. Game ended by hamstring injury

7 Jones: Prominent when he had the chance to run ahead into space from a busy midfield

8 Humphreys: Dictated the pace of the game in the opening half, with orders from the home bench for Kay to put a stop to his influence

6 Monkhouse: Again on the right, but attacking instinct had to be curtailed later on;

6 Brown: Better first-half than second, but Pools saw more of the ball in the opening half when they could feed their strikers

6 Boyd: Like Brown, all his work came in the first 45 minutes with little more to show as the game went on.

Subs:

Behan (for Boyd 65): Little impact as Pools were on the back foot when he arrived 5

McSweeney (for Larkin 64): Couple of early advances forward aside, not the sort of game to get ahead 5 (not used): Cook (gk), Sweeney, Clark, Fredriksen, Greulich.

MAN OF THE MATCH

GARY Liddle - Pools must fear the transfer window opening in January because in central defence he is a new player.

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