Harlepool Player ratings...

[North-East-Canary 0]

Sorry if this has all ready been done and sorry for the dealy as went straight out after the game and turned into bit of a all nighter but here goes.

Went to game yesterday saying Hartlepool just up road from where I live. 1st time iv give a players rating so here goes. Thought it was just a ok game really Hartlepool were shocking and never look like they were going to score. Thought we looked qiute solid at back Nelson and Askou won everything that came there way. Only thing I would say about Nelson is that he needs to take more time once ball comes his way instead of just huffing it up pitch and give possion away. But all in all 3 points were there fro the taking and we got them.

Forster-6 Wasn''t much for him to do really but when he had to come out he did and comanded the area well.

Semmy-7 Had quite a good game for a change got forward a few times only thing I would say he seems to switch off at times which could have been costly but luckly Hartlepool were poor going forward.

Nelson-7 As I said above really won everthing in the air and took his goal really well for a centre back hope this builds his confidance up because id play him ahead of doc on this form

Askou-7 Seems to be a good buy so far very solid and the passing of the ball was very good allways tryed to find a man to pass it to instead of a long ball up front

Dury-7 Did very well good to see him back got in hard where needed to also got forward quite well which was good to see.

Mcveigh-8 Wasn''t very sure on when he re-signed  for us but made both goals and worked hard to get the ball when we didnt have very solid game and showed some of the skill we all he has.

Hughes-9 My man of the match he was at the heart of all attacking play how this guy at begining of the season was only on the bench is crazy his quality showed and took his goal really well.

Korey-7 To be honest I didnt really notice him through the game (not sure if thats a good thing or bad thing)  but he seemed to work hard without the ball chasing and closing down. He only young lad  and with playing in this league will only make him a better player.

Lappin-8 the forgotton man from other seasons but I thought he was class out on the left and worked very well with dury really seemed he was putting everthing into and when made the odd mistake was disappointed with himself hope he keeps it up for rest of season.

Holt-8 This bloke is pure quality never give the hartlepool defence any rest. the size of him and the way he holds ball up is top draw only thing that was missing was a goal but the work rate he put in was class we just need some one fast to work off him as some of the nod downs where out of this world.

Cureton- 6/7 This is a hard one because the work jamie put in to try and get onto things was good you could see he was giving all. But the balls that were getting played into hime were all in the air most of the time and he had a defender that was about 6 foot plus marking him was never going to win anything. The most worrying thing for me is that he was knackered after about 50 min into the game  not sure if this was with the work he put in or genral fitness.

Hope this gives good idea of how we played like I said it''s my 1st time doing this so please take it easy on me. Be good to see what other people though of it.

[calcio_canarino 0]

Where do you live NE Canary, I''m at saltburn so was an easy journey for me as well. I''d made the 5 hour trip down to Carrow Road on the opening day of the season and after that performance wasn''t exactly encouraged to return. However, after Saturday''s rarity of an away win ( I once went 7 years without seeing an away win)and the appointment of PL it shouldn''t be too long before a trip down south again. Really enjoyed the game at Pool except for the one chant of ''dirty northern b*******'' which grates as a northerner. Southern wusses!

Anyway, in terms of player ratings/comments I''d agree with most except:

Forster - 8 Didn''t have to do much but did everything he had to he did extremely well.

Askou - agree with the score - him and Nelson were absolute rocks at the heart of the defence, but I didn''t see any quality distribution from either of them. Hartlepool played to Askou and nelson''s strengths i..e. balls in the air - so I think the jury is still out in terms of how they will handle trickier pacy strikers who run at them: my guess is that they will struggle with this aspect of the game.

Dury - 6 Was the weak link in defence, and even though he didn''t have a bad game he gave their winger far too much space to get cross balls in and at times the winger turned him inside out. Against a better team it could have been costly.

Hughes - 7 Took his goal really well and improved as the game went on, but for much of the first half didn''t impose himself on the game.

Smith - 6 I know people say he runs his heart out, but for me again he didn''t impose himself - as a central pairing Hughes and Smith barely won a ball between them. Smith is a wide mid, not central and looked far more of a threat when he was moved out wide. Made me laugh though when PL substituted him and Korey started to run off at quite a speed much to Lamberts annoyance and then realised he should be walking slowly to use up time and pulled up sharpish.

Holt - 9 Man of the match by a long way. The guy was immense. Hartlepool had two men on him for the whole game. If only we could get the ball in to him more in the box rather than him having to come wide for it. Other than a goal did everything. Great assist for Hughe''s goal.

Only one real gripe in terms of tactics- why oh why did we only ever use one type of throw in - a slow hopeful ball for Holt to head down. He was continually marked by two defenders and yet no one else offered any movement or made themselves available for the ball ... come on lads a bit more inventiveness and desire to receive the ball.

PL showed his great man management skills also - gave Curo a huge bear hug as he substituted him. He underrstands the lad is a confidence player. What a different approach to Roeder''s very public rubbishing of him.

[North-East-Canary 0]

Hi calcio_canarino good to see a fellow supporter so close Im from stockton so again was easy trip for me even had time to to squeeze 4 hours work in before the game.

Know what you mean by the chant though think it was the only one I didnt join in with like you said been northerner myself.

Shame about the trip you had on opening game of the season like don''t think anyone would have picked that score line myself included.

Good to see some diffrent opinions of the game I had a look about and couldn''t see any other ratings so thought why not give it a go. Got to say I it was 1st time I seen a away win so im glad I didnt go the 7 years you did but it clocked up to about 3 years  i think.

Take it you be heading to Carlile?

[calcio_canarino 0]

Yeah, good to hear from you as there''s not many of us in this neck of the woods. Carlisle away is a fixture that went straight in to my diary. Bit disappointed that the Leeds game has been moved from a saturday to monday night though. I''ll still go but might be a bit bleary eyed going in to work the following morning.

all the very best,

calcio.

[North-East-Canary 0]

You not wrong there like :) think ill be going up to carlisle like. Yeah I was looking forward to a weekend in leeds but not sure if ill be able to make it due to work commitments :(