Defeat At Glanford Park

Hartlepool United boss Paul Stephenson named an unchanged starting line up for tonight’s game with Scunthorpe United, yes that’s right, an unchanged first eleven! There was a change on the bench though as Jim Provett was ruled out with an injury so youth team keeper Tony Davison was named amongst the Pools substitutes.

Michael Maidens was the first player to try his luck as he drove a shot from distance straight at Iron keeper Paul Musselwhite, just a few minutes later Maidens was again causing problems as he burst into the penalty area and went down under pressure from a home defender, no appeal, no penalty. Eifion Williams then saw a shot on target saved by Musselwhite as Pools started the game brightly.

Pools won the first corner of the game after a neat turn from Adam Boyd, Maidens swung the ball in but the linesman flagged that the ball had gone out of play as Maidens delivered it into the six yard box.

As the half wore on Pools bright start faded and the home side worked their way back into the game. Adam Boyd tried his luck on 25 minutes but his long range shot was straight into the body of Paul Musselwhite.

Stephen Turnbull drove a lovely right footed shot towards goal in the 37th minute but his effort just whistled past the Scunthorpe post, Pools best effort of the night so far.

Two minutes before the break Ian Baraclough met a chipped cross from Cleveland Taylor to power a header past Dimitrious Konstantopoulos and score with the home sides first effort on target of the night.

Pools won a corner kick deep into first half injury time, Michael Nelson attacked the ball and Adam Boyd lashed it against the Scunthorpe cross bar but the home side cleared their lines and the referee brought the first half to a close.

Half Time: Scunthorpe United 1 Hartlepool United 0

The second half started with no changes to either side although Joel Porter did appear to be going through quite an extensive warm up during the half time break.

It wasn’t long before Brian Laws was forced into a change, experienced central defender Andy Crosby was forced to end his involvement in the game early after picking up an injury. Peter Beagrie replaced Crosby with Richard Hinds dropping into the centre of the Iron defence.

Chris Llewellyn put a dangerous ball into the Scunthorpe penalty area but the ball was just a little too heavy for Eifion Williams at the back post. Darren Williams then became the first player into the referee’s notebook for a foul on Peter Beagrie. Paul Stephenson then made his first change of the game as Eifion Williams was replaced by Joel Porter on 55 minutes.

Cleveland Taylor then had a great chance for a second home goal but he failed to trouble the score line with a poor effort. With Pools still chasing the game caretaker manager Paul Stephenson introduced Matty Robson for Michael Maidens on 67 minutes. Good work from Joel Porter won Pools a corner kick, Ritchie Humphreys took the set piece but failed to clear the first defender.

Disaster struck for Pools in the 71st minute as once again a Cleveland Taylor cross did all the damage, this time Matt Sparrow met the cross with the ball hitting the post before going over the line.

Lee Bullock had a great chance to drag Pools back into the game in the 77th minute but his effort was saved by Musselwhite in the Scunthorpe goal. A long ball over the top saw Andy Keogh clear with just Konstantopoulos to beat, but Keogh put his effort over the cross bar.

Paul Stephenson made his third and final change as Chris Llewellyn was replaced by David Foley. In the dying minutes Konstantopoulos was forced to make a good save from a Scunthorpe free kick, Pools continued to look for a consolation goal but even with Adam Boyd, Joel Porter and David Foley on the pitch is just wasn’t happening in front of goal.

The fourth official signalled for two minutes of injury time, during which Joel Porter created a chance for his strike partner Adam Boyd, but Boyd’s effort was off target.

Full Time: Scunthorpe United 2 Hartlepool United 0

A disappointing result for Pools, Paul Stephenson’s side started the game brightly but failed to create any real clear-cut chances. Cleveland Taylor proved to be the difference between the two sides as he created both goals for Brian Laws side.


Scunthorpe United
P Musselwhite, N Stanton, A Crosby (50 P Beagrie), S Foster, M Rose, M Sparrow, R Hinds, I Baraclough, C Taylor, A Keogh, S Torpey
Subs not used: T Evans, C Byrne, J Goodwin, I Ehui

Hartlepool United
D Konstantopoulos, D Williams, M Nelson, B Clark, R Humphreys, M Maidens (67 M Robson), L Bullock, S Turnbull, C Llewellyn (81 D Foley), A Boyd, E Williams (55 J Porter)
Subs not used: T Davison, M Tinkler

Referee: Mike Pike
Attendance: 4550 (451 Pools fans)