Victoria Park - wet, windy and goalless
THREE games in, three wins. The second home game of the season and it’s shirt sleeves, balmy summer sunshine, a raucous and passionate Victoria Park.
At least it normally is.
Instead the second home game, Pools v Bromley, possess a bleak outlook. It’s a textbook Hartlepool December night in October, when it should be August.
It’s tossing down, the wind whipping furiously down the pitch from Rink End to Town End.
The puddles in the raggy dolomite behind the Neale Cooper Stand are filling up. There’s no cars to break the water and splash it all over, no feet drenched as they step in a hole.
The terraces and stands are empty. The only passion and noise is coming from the living room. Your living room. Supporters are in the home warmth, watching their blue and white heroes on a laptop screen, an iPad or a smart TV.
The stream was, according to one living room season ticket holder, akin to watching the opening credits of Roobarb and Custard. Interference and buffering ruled.
Outside the Vic and the Corner Flag shutters are down. There’s no Eric Wilson on the door to meet and greet, no Paul McSweenie outside asking anyone and everyone what they hope and expect.
The Showroom in York Road is closed. Avenue Road empty. There’s a couple of stragglers heading, well wrapped up, into the Mill House for a pint, but it’s not a real pre-match one.
Pre-match pint is a can of John Smith’s from the fridge. Or a crate of Carling, £10 for 10 of them. At least you can drink when watching Pools now not just before or after.
On arrival at the Vic, and some of us are in a very privileged position to be able to attend games during the current pandemic, you have to fill in a questionnaire on your phone and show you’ve passed the test – a big green tick on your screen – before getting your temperature scanned.
Then get your pass in the doorway of the Victoria Lounge, head to the Neale Cooper Stand show your pass and the emptiness abounds. Shutters are down on the bar. Toilets locked.
The press box is marked out – one seat, one empty desk space, another seat. BBC Tees to one end, PA maestro Greig 20 yards away. Socially distant reporting.
Eddie Kyle, former Pools’ assistant boss is with Matty Jones on the mic. “You know what, even if it’s a draw tonight it’s not a bad result – keeps some momentum and a run going” charts Kyle.
He knows his stuff does the debonair Mr Kyle.
Like the wind, Pools huff and puff, unable to break the Bromley house down. Pools had the majority of possession, chances, efforts, shots and twice hit the bar. Once especially when it was much easier to score.
Mark Shelton hit the woodwork first, crashing his finish high against the woodwork. Last season he swept home with no fuss from a similar position.
David Ferguson swung over plenty of crosses as ever. At the start of the second-half, Rhys Oates was as close as he could be to getting enough on the ball to divert home without getting enough on the ball to divert home.
Oates was replaced, Claudio Ofosu pitched through the middle. On came Joe Gray, Mason Bloomfield was then introduced as Dave Challinor went through all his attacking options.
Eddie Kyle, former Pools’ assistant boss is with Matty Jones on the mic. “You know what, even if it’s a draw tonight it’s not a bad result – keeps some momentum and a run going” charts Kyle.
He knows his stuff does the debonair Mr Kyle.
At the back, Timi Odusina was impeccable.
“He ain’t catching you’’ shouted visiting captain Jack Holland as Forster tore away. But Odusina got there first thanks to his pace.
Holland’s voice was a constant: “SHAPE … SHAPE” he bellowed time and time again although his southern twang meant shape sounded more obscene, as if he was very unhappy with his teammates.
Odusina’s defensive partner Ryan Johnson scored two in his first two games. Was he the first centre-half to score on his opening two appearances since Ian Bennyworth in 1989? He didn’t make it three in three, anyway.
But no-one could score this time, for all the chances and openings there was no Fox in the Box.
It ended 0-0. Pools are top of the league, chased directly by Stockport and Notts County. The table has a familiar Football League style to it.
And so Victoria Park emptied, although it didn’t take long. There was no queue of cars at the traffic lights along Clarence Road, no Poolies grouped together heading for a post-match pint to stew over two missed points and endless missed opportunities.
And those puddles behind the Neale Cooper Stand were still there, untouched, by 10 o’clock.
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