Slipshod Pools let lucky lead slip away (From The Advertiser Series)

Slipshod Pools let lucky lead slip away

9:56am Monday 14th December 2009

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Southend United 3 Hartlepool United 2

CHRIS Turner has long lamented the merits of a twogoal lead; on Saturday his fears were realised.

Leading 2-0 at the best of times is, according to the Hartlepool United manager, the worst possible advantage.

Leading 2-0 when your side is being outplayed and horribly under-performing simply sets you up for a far from glorious fall.

And so it proved at Southend, as Pools, with a fragile advantage, didn’t take long to chuck away another lead.

From a leading position, Pools have lost four of their last five games and this season they have wasted 20 points after taking the lead.

If even half of those points had been secured, Turner’s side would be in fifth spot in League One this morning. Instead, they are 12th and it’s precisely why talk of making an impression on the play-offpositions remains nothing but talk and aspiration.

Granted Pools led at Roots Hall, but as Turner admitted, it was hardly a position they merited.

“We found ourselves two goals up at half-time, but did we deserve it? But we had to take it,’’ he reflected.

“Leading two goals to nil is a nightmare scoreline in football.

I won games at two-down as a player and manager, I’ve lost games at two-up. Everyone has watched, coached, managed and played in games like that.

“We were fortunate to go in with that lead and we never played well.

“Last week against Millwall we got two goals up and always looked like we could get a third – this time we never did.

“You have to be totally honest and we under-performed.

Players were disappointingafter being positive and encouraging last weekend.’’ Tellingly, he added: “It’s all about consistency, you have to play at the same level every week, not just at home. It’s no good turning out at Victoria Park, then going away and not being seen.

“We’ve lost another lead, but everyone does it – Liverpool do it, Chelsea do it, Man United do it, it’s football, it’s not science.

“How can a manager prevent players making a mistake in the way they have?

“Too many under-performed.

There weren’t a lot of positive performances and that comes from players who have been positive all season.’’ Pools missed the combative qualities of right-back Neil Austin, who has a hamstring strain which is likely to keep him on the sidelines for Saturday’s game with Yeovil, but not the Boxing Day game at Leeds.

In his absence, the reliable defensive display, which has been a feature this season, didn’t materialise.

Scott Flinders was uneasy in goal, after missing training all week with a hamstring strain, while Peter Hartley was up against the game’s outstanding talent in Francis Laurent, and Gary Liddle rarely looked as settled as normal.

In midfield, Pools were overrun by the lively Alan McCormack, who recovered from teeing up Adam Boyd to put Pools ahead by getting a firm grip.

McCormack’s lay-off to his defenders only fell to Boyd and, instinctively, he turned and arced a glorious finish across goal from 20 yards.

By the time Andy Monkhouse’s shot diverted from one side of goal to the other thanks to Anthony Grant’s deflection, Pools might have been two goals up but they were hardly on top.

Southend had the best of possession, but didn’t really do much with it or test Flinders.

Lee Barnard blasted over from a good position, but he was to find his sights later.

Two-up and it was a case of next goal the winner. Pools, however, never looked like getting it.

Three minutes after the restart the leveller arrived after Gary Liddle and Peter Hartley both failed to smash the ball away and played themselves into danger.

From then on, perhaps it was only a matter of time before the winning goal came, Barnard nodding a simple free header home from close range.

A Boyd free-kick was kept out by keeper Mildenhall and a searching Ritchie Jones pass put Armann Bjornsson in on goal, but his touch turned the opening into a routine back pass for the keeper.

“We had to be tight in the first 20 minutes of the second half to ensure we didn’t concede.

We did concede and look what happened,’’ said Turner.

“The start in terms of taking an advantage was good.

Adam scored a good goal, very well struck and we then got a second.

“Sometimes you get what you don’t deserve and we got it in the first-half.

“Too many performances weren’t good enough, which allowed Southend to keep building up pressure and a head of steam “Too many boys who have been outstanding this season weren’t on this occasion, but you cannot keep relying on the same players to bail you out all the time.

“I don’t think we had enough performers out there who lived up to their reputation.’’ He added: “I wasn’t happy with the whole performance.

No-one came in at half-time with the lead thinking we had the game won.

“I thought we struggled. It was the first time in a long time.

“Southend were a yard or two quicker and sharper.’’

Match facts

Goals:

0-1: Boyd (8, arced volley across goal on the turn from 20 yards)

0-2: Grant og (29, left-footed Monkhouse shot from edge of the area deflected to other side of the goal)

1-2: Laurent (48, turned from eight yards from a left-wing corner)

2-2: Barnard (56, simple tap-in after Pools twice squandered possession in dangerous area)

3-2: Barnard (74, ran in to plant a free-header from six yards to meet a high right-sided cross)

Bookings: Grant (30, foul), Clark (62, foul)

Sending-off: Clark (84, foul, second yellow)

Referee: Phil Gibbs (Birmingham): Pools had no complaints over his only key decision, the dismissal of Clark 7

Attendance: 7,562

Entertainment: ✰✰✰

SOUTHEND UNITED (4-4-2):

Mildenhall 6; Christophe 7 (Walker 70, 5), Morrison 7, Barrett 6, Malone 6; LAURENT 8 (Scannell 61, 7), McCormack 8, Grant 6, Moussa 6; Barnard 7, Ibrehe 5. Subs (not used): Sankofa, Freedman, O’Keefe, Joye (gk), Calver.

HARTLEPOOL UNITED (4-4-2):

4 Flinders: Struggled all week with a shoulder injury, and his game was affected by it;

5 Sweeney: Filled in at rightback, made some key interceptions, but he’s better in midfield

5 Collins: Put in challenge after challenge as he tried to repel the constant attacks

5 Liddle: His game had a sense of last-ditch about it, as he never settled and was culpable for the leveller

5 Hartley: Up against it in the first-half, but stuck to the task of marking Laurent, although was to blame with Liddle when it was made 2-2;

4 McSweeney: Was nowhere near the player he was seven days earlier against Millwall, made little headway

4 Humphreys: Always game in the middle, but ended up second best

5 Jones: Sometimes infuriating in possession, occasionally tidy, but Pools’ midfield didn’t get a grip

4 Monkhouse: Will want to claim the second goal, but it was one of his off-days where little goes right;

6 BOYD: When Pools were two goals to the good, one of the few to play like he can

5 Bjornsson: Woeful touch meant Pools’ best chance of a leveller at 3-2 went begging, otherwise willing

Subs:

Clark (for Monkhouse 61): Slow and sluggish in possession, which is why he was sent-off 4

Fredriksen (for McSweeney 77) (not used): Power, Cook (gk), Greulich, Cherel, Purvis.

MAN OF THE MATCH

FRANCIS Laurent – caused endless problems on the right side for the hour he was on the pitch.

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