Rochdale 0 Hartlepool 0
Aug 9 2010 by The Journal
LAST season it was only the goals of on-loan Sunderland striker Roy O’Donovan that kept Hartlepool United in League One.
This time around and with little prospect of landing a similarly proven scorer, having missed out on a deal for former Manchester City and Preston front man Jon Macken, Pool boss Chris Turner knows the problems he is faced with.
They were there for all to see on Saturday. While Pool kept a welcome clean sheet away from home, something they didn’t do enough times last campaign, their failings in front of goal remained.
They had 12 efforts on goal and failed to convert any of them.
To be fair, that was down to some inspired goalkeeping from Josh Lillis and some defending in numbers from the home side.
But, with Adam Boyd and James Brown struggling to overcome injuries and get their fitness levels up to scratch, Turner’s options are a bit short.
“The difference between bottom eight and top ten in League One is finishing and taking chances,” he reflected.
“We can develop a well organised and well drilled team, if we can get the final third right you get the opportunity to move into the top ten.
“We believe we need that sort of player in the squad to get us there. At the minute you can’t get 90 minutes out of Adam (Boyd), you can’t get 90 minutes out of James (Brown).
“We started with Armann (Bjornsson) because we thought they were vulnerable in the air.
“Adam came on at half-time and did superbly well, but we can’t get 90 minutes from him. You can see the problems James caused, but you see his influence draining away as the game goes on. Medically we can get the best out of both players and we have to modify the training to get them out there on Saturdays.”
Pool gave debuts to ex-Carlisle duo Evan Horwood and Paul Murray and both made swift impressions.
The team looked more organised and never appeared to be about to throw the game away like they did on too many occasions last season – perhaps down to the influence of new coach Mick Wadsworth.
Pool went closest to scoring when Antony Sweeney’s long-range effort was pushed from under the bar by Lillis. Boyd’s volley was goalbound but kept out by an outstretched leg, Sam Collins had two knocked off the line and Andy Monkhouse one.
At the other end, Scott Flinders had to make two good stops in the first half to keep out newly-promoted Dale.
“First game is always tough, they have come up to League One with confidence,” added Turner.
“But we took control and their goalkeeper got man of the match which says it all.
“We had 12 shots on target, but we had 15 at Norwich and Bristol Rovers last season and didn’t turn them into goals. That’s the difference.
“Overall we are pleased and looked an organised, solid team. Mick (Wadsworth) has done a lot of work with the team and you could see it out there.
“With that final third quality, we would have won.”
ROCHDALE: Lillis, Wiseman, Widdowson, Holness, Dawson, Barry-Murphy, Jones, Kennedy, Thompson (Andre 84), Akpa Akpro (Elding 67), O’Grady. Subs (not used): Edwards, Flynn, Done, Redshaw, Goodall.
HARTLEPOOL: Flinders, Austin (Haslam 81), Collins, Hartley, Horwood, Sweeney, Gamble, Murray, Monkhouse, Brown (McSweeney 73), Bjornsson (Boyd 46). Subs (not used): Rafferty, Mackay, Fredriksen, Larkin.
Attendance: 3,706
Referee: Andy Penn (W Midlands).
