Good day all round for Hartley-Pool

IT wasn’t quite scoring the winner in a cup final, but Peter Hartley was more than happy to settle for his own piece of glory on Saturday.

Growing up in Hartlepool, like every Clavering School pupil, Hartley used to dream of FA Cup final glory.

Scoring the decisive goal for his hometown club, the team he used to follow from the terraces, at Victoria Park may not be Wembley glory, but on Saturday night Hartley carried a smile as wide as Church Street.

His 43rd minute header from close range put Pools into tenth spot in League One, just three points from a playoff place and took their tally to seven points from nine. Not bad for a team which has, according to some, had a sticky start to the season.

The 21-year-old, a free transfer from Sunderland in the summer, said: “I’m a Hartlepool lad and it’s great to score for my home club, but it’s not the sort of thing I used to dream about – I dreamed about scoring the winner at Wembley and stuff like that, not at the Vic like!

“It’s a good feeling though and I cannot ask for more. I love playing for the club and enjoy it.

“It’s my first goal and I didn’t see much of it, to be honest!

I think my eyes were shut, I saw it flick on to me and that was it.’’ He added: “I scored and you can tell I’m a defender because I didn’t know what to do – I was going to run to the away fans, I blacked out! It’s a great feeling to score, and a great time to do it as well just before half-time.

“We scrapped that result out, but at least we came through it. It’s a fine line between success in games. We scored and if we hadn’t got that first goal, then Tranmere may have got it and we could have been booed off the pitch.

“It just goes to show we have stuck together as a team, it wasn’t the best of games, but we won.’’ Pools have played better this season and lost, this was a game when the result stands out far more than the performance.

To sit three points from the play-offs, taking 19 points from 14 games, represents a good, solid start to the season.

Pools needed big alterations in the summer, Turner was allowed to revamp the squad, and the signs are that the work can pay off.

There’s still a big difference in away performances and results to home displays and outcomes, but Pools next two league games are against Brighton (a) and Orient (h) – two winnable games which could put them in a really interesting position.

All along, the talk from manager and players has been the same – see where we are come November once the summer signings have bedded in.

“We are tenth and we want to push on further now,’’ added Hartley. “We have kept three clean sheets in a row and that gives us a great platform to push on because we will always score goals.

“Compared to some home games this season, it wasn’t one of our better ones, but it was vital to win. Three clean sheets shows how much we have worked together as a unit and it’s paying off, keeping so many I don’t suppose you can ask for much more.

“We didn’t really play well and won, so it’s a good thing.

Winning breeds confidence and we can only go forward.

“We are full of confidence and, even though we took a bit of stick against Brentford, we took confidence from a clean sheet and we have gone on from there.

“We went to Swindon and won, now let’s go to Brighton.’’ On Saturday, Pools could have been behind just three minutes in. First Scott Flinders made a save from Terry Gornell and, from the second corner in a minute, only a touch from Neil Austin directed Gareth Edds’ header onto the bar.

Given their nervous and often negative outlook, the goal would have given the terrace moaners plenty of ammunition.

But the first-half was a drab affair. The extra hour in bed yesterday morning when the clocks went back wasn’t really needed; anyone inside Victoria Park could have gained 40-odd minutes bonus sleep from 3pm on Saturday.

They would have been woken up, however, by Hartley’s header. The goal meant Pools were cheered off at the break instead of jeered off.

Rovers, down to ten men in the last couple of minutes after sub Charlie Barnett was harshly dismissed for a tackle on Austin, worked hard, but never really looked like scoring.

Austin knocked away a goalbound Ian Goodison effort and a couple of shots went wayward.

Pools put teenager Billy Greulich on for the last 20 minutes, and the lively former Brandon forward went close to a debut strike.

There was, however, only one inaugural goal to talk about in Hartlepool on Saturday.

Match facts

Goal:

1-0: Hartley (43, header from a Jones corner eight yards out)

Bookings: Behan (63, unsporting behaviour), Welsh (63, unsporting behaviour)

Sending-off: Barnett (88, serious foul play)

Referee: Gary Sutton (Lincoln): Sending-off was harsh 6

Entertainment: ✰✰

HARTLEPOOL UNITED (4-4-2):

7 Flinders: Another game in which he was faultless throughout;

7 AUSTIN: Had brought a lot to the side in recent weeks since getting in the team

7 Collins: As solid and uncompromising at the back as he has been of late

7 Liddle: Always had the knack of making vital interceptions and clearances

6 Hartley: Goal will have done him a power of good;

7

Brown: Sent over some good crosses which went unrewarded

6 Humphreys: Looked to find his teammates without really hurting the opposition

6 Jones: Full of energy and running, but without making a big mark on proceedings

6 Monkhouse: Had to spend his share of time dropping deep for possession;

5 Boyd: Chased and did his share, but didn’t have any joy this time as he dropped deep into crowded areas

5ehan: Stood in offside positions on plenty of occasions, but had a couple of difficult half-chances

Subs:

Greulich (for Boyd 72) McSweeney (for Brown 78) Sweeney (for Behan 86) (not used): Cook (gk), Haslam, Fredriksen, Bjornsson.

TRANMERE ROVERS (4-3-3):

Martin 7; Logan 7, Goodison 6, Broomes 6, Bakayogo 6; Edds 5, McLAREN 7, Welsh 6 (Barnett 80); Curran 6 (Bain 82), Thomas-Moore 5, Gornell 5 (Shuker 66, 5). Subs (not used): Cresswell, Mahon, Taylor, Daniels (gk)

MAN OF THE MATCH

NEIL Austin – made his mark with his share of robust challenges and forays forward.