Just a little more - on and off the pitch

By Albatross
September 25 2003

Last night's defeat to West Brom saw Pools fall just short on the pitch; meanwhile, the hoped-for large crowd didn't quite materialise either. There were a few records that did tumble thonugh....

So Pools fell just short last night, but still managed a decent display against a strong West Brom side and had them worried for much of the game. There were a couple of long-running records broken though. For starters, it's the first time the Baggies have beaten us on our own turf - though as last night was only our third meeting at the Vic, that's maybe not too much of a surprise!

It's the first time Pools have been beaten in a competetive match at the Vic for no less than ten months and our FA Cup replay defeat at the hands of Southend. In the League, if we avoid defeat against Brighton on Saturday we will have gone a full calender year unbeaten at home.

Chris Westwood's sending off last night was also our first of the season, and in fact our first since Micky Barron was sent off against Bournemouth last October - the only time a Pools player saw red in the whole of last season.

There were plenty of positives for Pools. Pushing a team a full division above us (and not long ago three divisions higher) all the way can only be a good sign. However there were also several negatives. Westie's straight red will mean him missing at least one game and possibly two or three - and he's almost certain to miss the home game with Sheffield Wednesday. And the crowd was nowhere near what we were all hoping for.

In fact, the 5265 who saw last night's game is our lowest home crowd of the season so far. Did the extra money (albeit being used for a good cause in youth development) put people off? Did some of the Season Ticket holders not fancy it? Who can say. Nevertheless, a few people within the club will have been hoping for better.

Ken Hodcroft again used his programme notes to highlight the issue, but in comparison to some of the previous occasions I think he got the tone spot on this time. He comments on how welcome the improved attendances are (up over 1000 on this time last year), and asks us to encourage more people to come along. Realising that he's preaching to the converted? Perhaps, but welcome all the same.

So will we see more in the ground for the visit of Brighton on Saturday? For anyone that was there, last night won't have done any harm - but there are still plenty in the town that will simply look at the result, not the performance, and decide that they'd much prefer to stay at home or go down the pub to watch the Premiership. Our attendances may be building, but after many years of struggle from the 70s, it's going to take a long period of success to reach the levels that I'm sure we'd all like to see. Progress over the last few seasons has been remarkable - let's hope that IOR are prepared to wait a little longer for it to continue.