Report: Limp Hartlepool Fall To Defeat

A shockingly poor performance and mistakes with team selection cost Pools dearly at Notts County

Lessons from last week's defeat to Sheffield Wednesday clearly hadn't been learnt as Mick Wadsworth's unchanged team selection cost Pools dear once more.

The left side of Antony Sweeney and Ritchie Humphreys were again below par, much of the home side's attacks coming down their right, with Sweeney anonymous on the left for much of the half.

It was actually a decent opening few minutes for Pools as a good attack saw a Nobby Solano ball create a chance for Antony Sweeney but this quick spell of pressure soon evaporated.

The traffic was all one way with wave after wave of County attacks, all of Pools' clearances were aimless and left Adam Boyd and Colin Nish completely isolated at the other end of the field.

Scott Flinders was the only player to emerge with any credit whatsoever as hid did well to stop a couple of Notts County effort but it was no surprise when the home side finally grabbed the opener

Yet again a long throw left Pools at sixes and sevens with a uncharacteristically poor Peter Hartley losing a header yet again. After a half clearance, the ball came straight back in and the busy Karl Hawley popped up to send a ball past Flinders.

Despite being under constant pressure there was no change in tactics as long balls were fired towards two forwards who didn't look interested, and Antony Sweeney on the wing who was equally poor in the air.

The half time interval couldn't come quickly enough and Pools were lucky not to be further behind at the interval as Flinders had to prevent Hawley from grabbing a second.

HT: Notts County 1 Hartlepool 0

Unbelievably, no subs came at the half time interval but thankfully they arrived 5 minutes into the half when Adam Boyd and Ritchie Humphreys were replaced by Andy Monkhouse and Evan Horwood.

As with last week, Monkhouse immediately brought some desire to the game with a good run down the left and cross forcing a corner.

However, it was all too little too late as the home side doubled the lead soon after. Another ball forward reached Hawley who raced past Hartley before lifting the ball over Flinders with a confident finish.

Pools did come back into the game, most of the attacks coming down a left hand side that should have been in place from the start.

The best chance of the game for Pools came with less than two minutes remaining when the ball fell kindly to Gary Liddle in the are, only for the midfielder to fire straight at the oncoming Stuart Nelson.

The home side were still looking dangerous and substitute Christian Montano dragged an effort just wide after being given far too much space in front of goal. But he found the back of the net soon afterwards when a long ball wasn't dealt with and the West Ham loanee fired home.

A hugely disappointing performance from Pools in front of the TV cameras, poor team selection meant the team were on the back foot from the start while limp performances from key players meant the outcome of this match was always going to be a home win.

FT: Notts County 3 Hartlepool 0 The blame for this afternoon's disaster must fall on the head of Mick Wadsworth, I've no idea what the reasoning behind sticking with a team selection that so clearly didn't work last weekend.

Too many players didn't perform on the day, Sweeney barely saw the ball until his switch to the middle in the second half while the pairing of Nish and Boyd left a lot to be desired. Boyd must have mustered 2 or 3 touches in a lacklustre performance while Nish's contribution was largely handing freekicks to the opposition.

The middle pairing of Gary Liddle and Paul Murray sat far too deep, just as last week, although the long balls forward would have been sailing over their heads regardless of where they were on the pitch.

The only player to emerge with any real credit from the starting XI was Scott Flinders, he pulled off a couple of good saves to prevent County scoring even more.

MOM: Scott Flinders

Praise must also go to the 248 travelling fans who made the trip to Nottingham on a late Sunday and sang their hearts out in the first half, despite the gutless performance on display. Notts County: Nelson, Kelly, Sheehan, Edwards, Pearce (Sodje 90), Hawley, Bishop, J Hughes, Judge (L Hughes 65), Burgess (Montano 81), Mahon
Subs not used: Spiess, Stirling

Hartlepool: Flinders, Austin, Collins, Hartley, Humphreys (Horwood 51), Solano (Poole 71), Murray, Sweeney, Liddle, Boyd (Monkhouse 51), Nish
Subs not used: Wright, Luscombe

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