THE blame for Hartlepool’s latest setback has been laid firmly at the feet – or hands – of goalkeeper Jan Budtz. But as they take stock of their latest Friday flop over the weekend, they’ll surely come to realise that there was a lot more to it than a mistake by the giant Dane. Determined to make up for losing at home to Cheltenham in their previous foray into Friday night football, Pools failed to cope with the bitterly cold and blustery wind blowing across the pitch just as much as Budtz failed to cope with the shot that gave Northampton a late win. Manager Danny Wilson says his team must recover from the setback and aim to get a run going as they head towards eight-match March, when their League One fate will surely be sealed. “Northampton were only three points ahead of us before the game and if we’d won, we would be ahead of them now,” he said. “But fair play to them, they won and now they are looking at getting in amongst the play-off contenders. “We have a different job to do. We have to build things up again after a setback like that and try to get some momentum going. Then we have to hope that it gets us somewhere. “There’s still a long way to go and a lot of points to play for.” It’s not that Pools played badly on Friday, in fact they were a lot better than they had been in their previous home game when they fought back after a suicidal start to beat Port Vale 3-2. But they didn’t really play all that well, either. They looked tight enough at the back – apart from when they conceded the game’s only goal – and did have chances. But in midfield they never really got going – veterans Willie Boland and Alan Thompson both subbed early in the second half and Gary Liddle and Tony Sweeney both struggling to get a grip on the game. Up front, Richard Barker was always outnumbered and Joel Porter, unlucky to see his late shot brilliantly saved by Mark Bunn, didn’t get the breaks he needed. But it was a frustrating game overall, not helped by the wind. “It had 0-0 written all over it,” said Wilson. “I’m sure Jan will be very disappointed with the goal that decided the game, because it was a nothing shot really.” It came on 82 minutes when Northampton sub Giles Coke was handed possession on halfway and ran at the retreating Pools defence, before directing a low shot into Budtz’s left-hand corner from the edge of the area. The keeper must have seen it all the way, dived the right way, but failed to reach the ball. All of a sudden the improved defensive display, in which Graeme Lee’s return to his first club on loan from Doncaster looked a major bonus alongside Michael Nelson, had gone to waste. They had bottled up danger man Adebayo Akinfenwa and Poul Hubertz, while Ritchie Humphreys on the left tried to get things going ahead of him and Godwin Antwi on the right looked outstanding. It surprised some fans that only three minutes after the break Antwi was replaced by Jamie McCunnie because Wilson felt he needed more of an attacking player in that position, but nobody was surprised by first Boland and then Thompson being replaced before the second half had gone much further. Pools are in a bit of a rut right now, struggling to find any real rhythm and consistency yet still able to leave players like Andy Monkhouse, so often a match-winner last season and fit again now, on the bench. The team and their fans are not used to mid-table mediocrity in recent seasons, but after last season’s promotion, they are not as strong in some respects as they were in a lower division a year ago, and until that is put right mediocrity appears to be the best they can hope for. | 
