Dagenham & Redbridge 0 Hartlepool 2

I don’t get to see Pools play too often and I’m really glad I was able to be there today.

The match was played in conditions not unfamiliar to Victoria Park with a swirling wind blowing in different directions in different parts of the ground. The temperature was freezing, so not anywhere as cold as Victoria Park.

The earlier arriving Pools fans were diverted away from the usual stand behind the goal into a corner terrace – although when that got filled up, part of the usual stand behind the goal was opened up to the later arriving Poolies who presumably had been in the pub until the last possible minute, and perhaps that helped them to be in fine voice throughout the afternoon.

During the warm-up, several of the players took part in a shooting practice warm-up with Craig Hignett laying off the ball to each player in turn to shoot. Each player had about 5 or 6 turns. I noticed that while most got about 50% of their shots on target, some of which were saved by Andy Rafferty, there was one players who not only got all of his shots on target but also beat Andy Rafferty with every one of them. More on him later…….

I’m not a particularly good match report writer but here are my impressions. The first half was pretty even, mostly with both sides cancelling each other out. The wind played a big part in the proceedings and the game was often rather scrappy with few clear cut chances for either side. D&R hit the post once and Luke James had a couple of half-chances at the other end.

The second half started in the same way but then developed into a somewhat sustained period of D&R pressure – including them having a goal disallowed for an infringement just outside the area.

Everything changed however in the 68th minute when Mr-100%-in-shooting-practice launched a fierce arc-ing shot from about 10 years outside the centre of the penalty area which flew joyously into the goal. Yayayayayayayayayay! (as they say – well , OK, as *I* say!) 1-0 to the Pools.

D&R not surprisingly upped the urgency somewhat, and Pools tried to slow things down a little. While D&R threatened occasionally, the Pools midfield & defence generally looked solid.

We had a few counter-attacks during this period, helped by the pace of Franks who had come on shortly after the goal. Franks proved to be the creator of the 2nd goal when his cross from the right found Luke James in an awkward position at the far post. He managed to head it back and down to find Andy Monkhouse whose shooting on this occasion was considerably better than it had been during the warm-up – I think his shot squirmed through the legs of a defender on its way in.

That was with maybe a minute left on the clock and we felt safe. Nobody announced however how much added time there was going to be. Jordan Richards had needed treatment for an injury so I guess that’s why we had an extra 4 minutes or so. Anyway, during that added time D&R struggled to threaten us again and we were just as much threat at the other end.

Happy days!