IT might be a tough call for Joe Allon, but the lure of the Premiership sways it.

The Hartlepool United legend may have a slight case of split loyalties this afternoon when two of his old clubs go head to head with a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup up for grabs.

Pool take on Brentford at Victoria Park and therein lies the problem; the visitors are managed by Martin Allen, one of Allon's big football pals.

But Allon, who shot Pool to promotion in 1991 and is the club's sixth highest scorer of all time, admits he can't go against the grain.

He recalled: "I lived next door to him when I was in London. I was playing for Chelsea and he was at West Ham. He's a real character and a very, very good friend of mine.

"In football you have a few friends up there with the best of them and he is one of them. Even though we played for different clubs we got on well.

"I enjoyed my time at Brentford and I've other good friends at the club.

"I was their record signing at £275,000 and it stood for six seasons and I scored 30 odd goals in 50 odd games.

"We were relegated in my first season there - we were third at Christmas, then got involved in the Anglo-Italian Cup and ended up at the bottom.''

Today's winners will go to Southampton in seven days' time and Allon admitted: "To be honest, I couldn't complain if Brentford win and Martin Allen is celebrating - but at the same time, I would love nothing more than to see Hartlepool go through.

"My heart hopes it's Hartlepool because, deep down, I want to be at Southampton.

"It would be fantastic to get there and the way things are going at the club at the moment, everything is great.''

Today's winners get £40,000 from the Football Association pot, but the possibility of a big pay day at Southampton would bring in plenty more.

And Allon said: "There's a chance of getting into the fifth round of the FA Cup and what a carrot for the players to reach for.

"Some people might say that Southampton aren't a big club and not a big attraction, but I watched them play Everton last week. There was 30,000 there in a brand new stadium and it was a hell of a game.

"If we get there, you are looking at a 30,000 crowd so that will bring in something like half a million pounds.

"I remember having a fourth round replay with Pools a few years ago. We drew with Bournemouth and went there for the replay, with Man United awaiting the winners.

"Imagine that? Hartlepool playing Man United - it would have been like Exeter playing them this season.

"But we lost 5-2, Bakes (Paul Baker) scored two own goals and we were always up against it.''

Allon, a regular at Pool games as part of the BBC Radio Cleveland commentary team, is full of praise for the Victoria Park management team.

Neale Cooper and Martin Scott have taken Pool to fifth spot in League One, a 12-game unbeaten run and the chance of history by reaching round five of the world's oldest cup competition.

He said: "There's a cracking management team in place - Neale Cooper, Martin Scott, Paul Stephenson and Mark Prudhoe the goalkeeping coach as well.

"What he has done with the big Greek (Dimi Konstantopoulos) is unbelievable. I feel very sorry for Jim Provett to be honest, he's a very good goalkeeper. He was in goal during the bad run and that was unfortunate for him.

"It wasn't his fault, but Dimi has come in and he's the fella in charge now.

"He commands his area well and he comes and takes the pressure from his defenders. It must be great for the defenders to know there is someone like him there behind them.

"The defence has played a massive part in this great run.''

Pool have kept seven clean sheets in the last 12 games, a record in stark contrast to the previous 12 games when their away record proved such a problem.

But, with bad their away form now consigned to history and their home form standing proud, Pool are making a real assault on the leading places.

"We had lost eight away from home, but at that time we won eight at home as well,'' Allon said.

"There's never been an questions about the home form dropping away, so when we turned around the away form and got it back to something like it has been over the last few years, we were always going to be right up there.

"We had a good base to build on with the home form and now we've taken it forward."

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