Pools need to show title-winning form to stay up

IT WAS only six months ago when Wycombe Wanderers looked set for relegation from the Football League. They survived and today they sit top of League Two, following a comprehensive victory at Hartlepool United.

Six months to turn the club from the drop to title contenders; quite where Pools will be in six months, nobody knows.

Bottom of the table, winless in seven and six points from safety (with a desperately inferior goal difference), come May 3 chances are Pools will be long relegated.

To hit the 50 point mark they need another 38 from 27 games. That’s 1.4 points per game and they currently average 0.63. Pools need title-winning form, the sort displayed by the Chairboys.

“The message before the game was about being professional. Last year we lost a lot of games, but we lost a lot by the odd goal and stayed in a lot of games. We were down there, but believed we had a chance and Hartlepool will have been feeling the same,’’ reflected visiting midfielder Matt Bloomfield, who scored the second goal at Victoria Park.

His sentiments were genuinely echoed by boss Gareth Ainsworth: “This was a tough game, a potential slip-up. If we were complacent we could have lost this, but I made sure it wasn’t going to happen. It was a professional job, a sticky pitch, Hartlepool can be a horrible place to come at times and this team will turn it around.

“They won’t lose every game here, they will start winning and we had to make sure it wasn’t against us.’’

Paul Murray is still seeking his first win in the league as Pools boss. Successive home games with York and Wycombe were supposed to provide a boost prior to Friday’s FA Cup tie. Instead, the Blyth game is looking daunting.

Once again, this home defeat was as routine as they come. The visitors did their job, but they were gifted goals thanks to more rotten individual mistakes.

Pools have lost a shocking 45 home games in the last four and a bit seasons. Teams don’t have to play well to beat Pools, they just have to be efficient.

“It’s a hard job, the pressure is on me no doubt and it’s difficult for sure,’’ reflected Murray.

“But I’ve got good staff around me, it’s hard, very difficult but I knew it would be. Results, three defeats, is upsetting and I’m feeling it. I’m still getting a good vibe from the players and staff to work hard.

“It’s not what I want at the minute, it’s about confidence and it’s the same in any walk of life. We have to build it up and then it gets knocked back again. It’s tough, I knew it would be.

“Wycombe were in this position a year ago and I’ve spoke with Gareth and he said in this position they just kept going, kept going and it changes for them. There’s no secret formula.

“What happened to us was that they, as a team, didn’t make that many errors. That’s the difference.

“It’s finding that formula. We should be in the right places when we don’t have the ball, but we weren’t. The second goal was a counter-attack from deep and we have worked on things like that. Wycombe were all reliable, solid players who adapted and changed shape because of us.’’

Reliable and solid are words that cannot be associated with Pools; try unreliable and soft instead.

The first goal, well worked from a visiting perspective, should have been dealt with by the back four.

Pools then got a penalty, a chance to level. Neil Austin scored his last spot kick, firing high under the bar to the keeper’s right.

As Wycombe’s Matthew Ingram pointed to where Austin’s Luton penalty went to, he tried the same and fired over. Chance and hope deflated in an instant.

After shipping two goals in as many minutes against York the week before, Pools gave away two in three minutes.

From an attack of their own, Pools lost possession, failed to defend against a counter attack, and were cut open easily – similar to the one shipped at Southend two weeks earlier.

Their defensive shape, awareness and organisation in reacting to losing possession was as desperate as the marking for the corner which allowed defender Alfie Mawson a free header to make it three.

“It’s been individual errors again, it’s been happening all season and I’m really trying to address it,’’ admitted Murray. “It’s about the desire of individuals to stop it and this is another disappointing afternoon.

“It’s not concentrating – what are we thinking about at the time? It’s about stopping your man from getting the ball. I don’t know if we are concentrating enough. It’s been a factor all season.’’