SLOW starts to a season are becoming the norm for Hartlepool United.

Five games gone, four points on the board and the Division Three table doesn't make good reading.

Last year, after five games Chris Turner's side had five points; in 1999 it was four - and on both occasions they reached the play-offs.

So don't despair, because on Saturday's performance at Scunthorpe an increase in the points tally can't be far away. Result aside, this was an improvement in performance and accepted as Pool's best display of the season.

Three League defeats in a row equals Pool's worst run under Turner - it's four losses and an unwelcome record run if you include the Worthington Cup reverse to Nottingham Forest - but there's no panic setting in at Victoria Park; apart from the odd impatient fan that is.

Maybe if Tommy Widdrington's penalty had found the back of the net instead of the back of the stand the table could be read without fear.

Instead, after the success of the last two campaigns, it's a somewhat unfamiliar sight to see Hartlepool United at the foot of the table and fans can be forgiven for hiding from the league table from behind the living room sofa.

"What more can we do?'' asked frustrated Turner, who changed from his favoured 3-5-2 line-up to 4-4-2. "We obviously should have scored from the penalty kick, that sums up our luck at the moment. But if we play like that then there will be no problems.

"There were certain areas we could have done better but away from home, maybe that is always the case. But it was our best performance of the season. Playing 4-4-2 worked excellent. All the work we have done on the training ground has paid off.

"We've had a slippy start the last two seasons but we are confident in what we do. That was one of the best away performances from us in a long time. There will be games when we don't play as well as that and win.

"If we put in that sort of performance and pass it around like we have done, then with a little bit of luck we will start to get results.

"We got a penalty which was a chance to get back into it. Tommy's never missed one for Port Vale, Grimsby or Southampton - and then he misses for us.

"We've threw 30 balls into their box and never got anything from it. When we did beat the keeper, it comes back off the line and bounces back into his hands. I couldn't ask for any more; we just need that little break that some teams have and we haven't had at the moment.''

Apart from a squandered Martin Carruthers chance with barely two minutes on the clock, Brian Laws' side created few chances and few problems for Pool.

There was always the threat of Peter Beagrie, but if anyone thought he was going to turn on the style they were wrong. Thanks to a solid display from right back Jon Bass, Beagrie, a Premiership player as recently as February, hardly had a sniff and when he did get the ball, there was little buzz or end product.

If Bass was solid on the right, Mark Robinson was excellent on the left. The 20-year-old from Guisborough might only have made six previous appearances, on this display there's plenty more to come.

Robinson is not afraid of a strong tackle, uses the ball well and isn't afraid to cajole his more experienced teammates into raising their game to his high standard.

"He was outstanding, he's never let us down in the past,'' said Turner, who surely has his full backs in place if he opts to stick with a flat back four.

In front of Robinson, Darrell Clarke showed flashes of the talent that persuaded Turner to shell out £80,000 in the close season. He could have given Pool the lead when after a flowing four-man passing move, his flick header lacked the pace to beat Tommy Evans in the home goal.

Ritchie Humphreys was being singled out for special attention by both the home defence and crowd, but he was trying to forge a partnership with Kevin Henderson and it was good to see him playing a more central role instead of drifitng to the right and leaving Henderson isolated.

Clarke almost deflected a Carruthers cross into his own net, but a minute later Scunthorpe scored. A long ball from the back was flicked on by Carruthers and Steve Torpey steered it past the advancing Williams.

James Sharp had to kick off the line after a Beagrie set-piece, but that was the last threat posed by Brian Laws' side.

Tinkler latched onto Graeme Lee's long pass and was upended by Carl Bradshaw as he was about to shoot.

Referee Alan Butler should have showed the last defender a red card, but with Paul Stephenson and Anth Lormor homing in to take the penalty, Widdrington - a 100 per cent spot kick record before Saturday - took charge and blasted high and wide

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