retired_heathermarie

December 2004

Another terrible start to the month to extend our losing streak, falling 2-1 to Walsall in a game that I felt we had to win. Better things would come in our next game, as we fought back from 2 goals down to tie Stockport County thanks to brilliant clutch performances by Boyd and Bruno. That would stop the bleeding temporarily, but our performance against Wrexham didn’t do us any favors; we took another point but it took a last-second goal from Boyd to clinch it in a match where we didn’t deserve anything. Morrison didn’t do us any favors in the Boxing Day clash with Oldham Athletic, getting sent off early as we crashed to a 2-1 defeat. We ended the month limping into Ashton Gate to take on Bristol City, and this wasn’t a contest at all; two goals on each side of the break, 4-0 final. The season’s turned from promising to appalling.

Boyd put in a transfer request at the end of the month; I had no choice but to accept rather than risk losing him for nothing at the end of his contract, which is fast approaching.

December 7: Walsall 2–1 Hartlepool United (Murphy o/g)
December 11: Hartlepool United 2–2 Stockport County (Bruno, Boyd)
December 18: Wrexham 1–1 Hartlepool United (Boyd)
December 26: Hartlepool United 1–2 Oldham Athletic (Boyd)
December 28: Bristol City 4–0 Hartlepool United

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Sheff Wed 24 16 6 2 41 14 +27 54 2nd Hull 24 13 5 6 39 25 +14 44 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Tranmere 24 13 4 7 35 25 +10 43 4th Bristol C 24 11 8 5 39 27 +12 41 5th Colchester 24 11 7 6 38 27 +11 40 6th Port Vale 24 11 6 7 34 29 +5 39 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Brentford 24 9 11 4 39 27 +12 38 8th Swindon 24 11 5 8 28 22 +6 38 9th Bradford City 24 9 7 8 30 31 -1 34 10th Torquay 24 8 9 7 30 28 +2 33 11th Walsall 24 7 12 5 30 30 0 33 12th Oldham 24 8 7 9 30 26 +4 31 13th Blackpool 24 8 6 10 38 43 -5 30 14th Wrexham 24 8 6 10 30 35 -5 30 15th Huddersfield 24 6 10 8 25 27 -2 28 16th Stockport 24 6 10 8 21 29 -8 28 17th Hartlepool 24 7 6 11 25 40 -15 27 18th Doncaster 24 6 7 11 27 39 -12 25 19th Barnsley 24 6 7 11 18 31 -13 25 20th MK Dons 24 6 6 12 26 29 -3 24 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21st Bournemouth 24 6 6 12 34 41 -7 24 22nd Chesterfield 24 5 8 11 27 34 -7 23 23rd Peterborough 24 5 7 12 34 50 -16 22 24th Luton 24 3 12 9 27 36 -9 21</pre>

Mike..

Another challenger struggling to maintain league form, as a reader I hope you can turn this around soon, as a challenger I hope you can turn it around...... say in six or seven seasons time

retired_heathermarie

(Ooh... 6 or 7 seasons might be too generous. )

January 2005

The new year got off to a flyer away at Barnsley. Finding ourselves down 2-0, we sprinted out to a 3-2 lead thanks to a brace by Boyd. He added his hat trick later to make it 4-3, but we couldn’t hold on for the three points and lost what might be categorized as a shootout. After the game, we learned that Porter has been denied a work permit to stay at the team, and it looks likely that the Aussie international will have to leave England. The bad news continued in our next match, as we totally outplayed Milton Keynes Dons but fell to a 90th minute goal by Jamie Mackie to throw away another result. I immediately, in desperation, switched from our customary offensive-minded 4-4-2 to a 3-5-2 so that we might get midfield control. We didn’t get totally outplayed by Luton Town when trying the tactic, but still could only come up with another draw. Of course, after this game, one player made his exit...

Out: Adam Boyd (Millwall, £85,000)

It was either sell him for under market value or lose him for nothing in June. With that done, and with Porter sadly on the block as well, we headed off to Plainmoor to face Torquay United. Team morale was at an all-time low, and despite Tinkler cutting the deficit to 2-1 after the half, we crashed to a 6-1 defeat, another in a series of one-sided thrashings this season. We went back to a standard 4-4-2 after I declared 3-5-2 an absolute failure based on that result; that, and the fact that the board was starting to show signs of unrest. The players responded to my slightly noticeable desperation, finding the net three times to allow us to upset Bristol City and earn our first win since October 23. Unfortunately, the pressure is still on according to the media, which means a win in the month’s final match against Hull City is a necessity. To try tip the scales in our favor, I make some moves...

In: Jóhann Þórhallsson (KA, £22,000), Gabriel Acheampong (Kolstad, £4,000)
Out: Andrew Appleby (Bamber Bridge, £0)

Þórhallsson (however you pronounce it) is an extremely skilled Icelandic forward, and he’s been capped (and recently called up) by the national team as well. Acheampong is a young Norwegian who shows a lot of promise, and gives us some forward and midfield cover.

Despite these moves... the match looked promising with Þórhallsson scoring early and allowing us to take the lead into the half... but then we exploded again as Hull used the counter-attack to strike quickly, and took home a 5-1 victory over us. I was certain the sack was near, but after a long talk with the board... I have a little more time.

January 1: Barnsley 4-4 Hartlepool United (Boyd 3, Humphreys)
January 3: Hartlepool United 0–1 Milton Keynes Dons
January 8: Hartlepool United 1–1 Luton Town (Williams)
January 15: Torquay United 6–1 Hartlepool United (Tinkler)
January 22: Hartlepool United 3–1 Bristol City (Bruno, Williams, Porter)
January 29: Hull City 5–1 Hartlepool United (Þórhallsson)

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Sheff Wed 30 19 8 3 53 19 +34 65 2nd Hull 30 19 5 6 55 26 +29 62 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Bristol C 30 14 10 6 50 34 +16 52 4th Tranmere 30 16 4 10 41 36 +5 52 5th Swindon 30 15 5 10 39 31 +8 50 6th Colchester 30 12 11 7 44 34 +10 47 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Brentford 30 11 11 8 47 39 +8 44 8th Oldham 30 11 10 9 40 28 +12 43 9th Bradford City 30 11 10 9 40 39 +1 43 10th Torquay 30 10 10 10 42 38 +4 40 11th Port Vale 30 11 7 12 39 41 -2 40 12th Blackpool 30 10 9 11 44 47 -3 39 13th Stockport 30 9 11 10 30 35 -5 38 14th Huddersfield 29 8 12 9 31 32 -1 36 15th Wrexham 30 9 9 12 34 43 -9 36 16th Walsall 30 7 14 9 33 38 -5 35 17th Doncaster 30 9 8 13 36 46 -10 35 18th MK Dons 30 8 8 14 31 36 -5 32 19th Hartlepool 30 8 8 14 35 58 -23 32 20th Barnsley 30 7 10 13 25 41 -16 31 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21st Bournemouth 29 7 9 13 42 50 -8 30 22nd Luton 30 5 14 11 34 43 -9 29 23rd Chesterfield 30 6 10 14 30 39 -9 28 24th Peterborough 30 6 9 15 39 61 -22 27</pre>

retired_heathermarie

February 2005

I had a feeling that we’d have to get a win right off the bat for me to see out the month, and thankfully, Bruno and Williams combined to give us an extremely lucky, but still deserved, win over Chesterfield. It was nice to see Bruno get a cap for Andorra in midweek, although they fell to Macedonia 2-0. Peterborough United were next up at home, and for a long time it looked like we would fall to certain defeat after a Robertson own goal, yet Morrison popped up in the 89th minute to seal a draw. A trip to play Port Vale was next on the agenda, and despite Provett letting in some howlers early on, goals by Nelson and Williams late in the game made it seem like we would earn an important away win. Of course, Vale struck back twice, we lost 4-3, and somehow I still had a job. We only came alive late in the match against Brentford, but that didn’t make any difference because neither team could find the net in a disappointing match. Finally, we limped to the end of the month with a disastrous performance at Stockport County, putting up no fight at all in a 3-0 defeat.

February 5: Chesterfield 1–2 Hartlepool United (Bruno, Williams)
February 11: Hartlepool United 2–2 Peterborough United (Williams, Morrison)
February 19: Port Vale 4–3 Hartlepool United (Williams 2, Nelson)
February 22: Hartlepool United 0–0 Brentford
February 26: Stockport County 3–0 Hartlepool United

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Sheff Wed 35 22 10 3 61 24 +37 76 2nd Hull 35 21 6 8 61 31 +30 69 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Bristol C 35 19 10 6 63 38 +25 67 4th Swindon 35 18 7 10 53 38 +15 61 5th Tranmere 35 18 5 12 50 43 +7 59 6th Oldham 35 13 11 11 49 37 +12 50 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Colchester 35 13 11 11 53 49 +4 50 8th Bradford City 35 13 11 11 47 45 +2 50 9th Brentford 35 12 13 10 51 46 +5 49 10th Wrexham 35 13 10 12 47 45 +2 49 11th Doncaster 35 12 10 13 46 49 -3 46 12th Torquay 35 11 12 12 50 48 +2 45 13th Stockport 35 11 12 12 39 42 -3 45 14th Blackpool 34 12 9 13 49 56 -7 45 15th Port Vale 35 12 8 15 48 55 -7 44 16th Bournemouth 35 10 11 14 55 58 -3 41 17th MK Dons 35 10 9 16 37 43 -6 39 18th Walsall 35 8 15 12 36 47 -11 39 19th Hartlepool 35 9 10 16 42 68 -26 37 20th Luton 35 7 15 13 40 49 -9 36 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21st Huddersfield 34 8 12 14 35 44 -9 36 22nd Peterborough 35 8 11 16 49 68 -19 35 23rd Barnsley 35 7 12 16 29 52 -23 33 24th Chesterfield 35 7 10 18 33 48 -15 31</pre>

enjikari

At this rate you will be hard pressed to avoid exiting the league the wrong way!

Good luck with it though :thup:

retired_bbcarr

is it just me, or is that the exact same post as last time?

retired_heathermarie

...Indeed it is. Made a boo-boo on the cut/paste, it seems. Here's March.

March 2005

March came in with another close call, at least regarding my job; we threw our umpteenth lead of the season to Wrexham, but somehow I managed to stay in charge for the following match against Tranmere Rovers at home. This time, I decided to experiment with a 4-3-3, hoping that we could generate more chances with 3 men up front. We got more shots on target than usual, although we were still woefully outplayed, and earned a draw due to another penalty decision going against us. Another harsh match against Bradford City was next, with our opponents showing us no mercy and enjoying much of the possession in a 1-0 defeat. I felt that our best chance of stopping this slide was against fellow battlers Huddersfield Town, but that plan didn’t exactly work out as they slotted 3 past us for the easy win. Finally, after receiving justified abuse from our fans, we traveled to Blackpool, who did us no favors; another 3-0 defeat leaves us in critical condition.

March 5: Hartlepool United 1–2 Wrexham (Porter)
March 12: Hartlepool United 1–1 Tranmere Rovers (Porter)
March 19: Bradford City 1–0 Hartlepool United
March 26: Hartlepool United 0–3 Huddersfield Town
March 28: Blackpool 3–0 Hartlepool United

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st Pl Sheff Wed 39 24 11 4 68 32 +36 83 2nd Bristol C 40 21 12 7 67 42 +25 75 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd Hull 40 22 7 11 66 39 +27 73 4th Swindon 40 20 9 11 62 45 +17 69 5th Tranmere 40 20 7 13 59 50 +9 67 6th Oldham 40 18 11 11 60 37 +23 65 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Brentford 39 15 14 10 61 50 +11 59 8th Colchester 40 15 13 12 60 54 +6 58 9th Bradford City 40 15 13 12 50 47 +3 58 10th Blackpool 40 15 11 14 58 60 -2 56 11th Wrexham 38 14 11 13 49 48 +1 53 12th Torquay 39 13 13 13 57 52 +5 52 13th Doncaster 40 14 10 16 52 58 -6 52 14th Stockport 40 12 14 14 42 47 -5 50 15th Bournemouth 40 11 13 16 61 64 -3 46 16th MK Dons 40 12 10 18 46 53 -7 46 17th Port Vale 39 12 10 17 52 65 -13 46 18th Walsall 40 9 17 14 41 53 -12 44 19th Barnsley 40 10 14 16 40 58 -18 44 20th Huddersfield 40 9 13 18 41 53 -12 40 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21st Luton 40 8 15 17 46 61 -15 39 22nd Chesterfield 40 9 11 20 41 56 -15 38 23rd Peterborough 40 8 14 18 57 79 -22 38 24th Hartlepool 40 9 11 20 44 77 -33 38</pre>

retired_heathermarie

April/May 2005

In desperation, I make a loan signing before the month starts, defender Danny Jackman becoming our second player in from Stockport County. The problem was, defense wasn’t an issue in our next match; no matter how deep the backfield was, Swindon Town would have likely decimated it anyways. Another hard defeat resulted from that encounter. Having tried nearly every tactic and combination possible, I rolled the dice with a 5-3-2 against Colchester United. The good news was that we didn’t give up so many goals; the bad news was that it didn’t help us win at all. A more defensively-minded 5-3-2 went into effect against the league leaders in a pivotal match, and although we did well for ourselves, Sheffield Wednesday took all three points to clinch promotion and leave us hanging on for dear life; 8 points from safety with 3 games to go. Of course, if you were reading this thinking that we were going to make a spectacular escape, well... our next match was spectacular. It produced a 5-star performance by Doncaster Rovers that sealed our fate. The next two games saw our reserves play as I benched all the starters, and the results speak for themselves.

April 2: Hartlepool United 1–4 Swindon Town (Williams)
April 9: Colchester United 2–1 Hartlepool United (Porter)
April 15: Hartlepool United 0–1 Sheffield Wednesday
April 23: Doncaster Rovers 5–0 Hartlepool United
April 30: Hartlepool United 0–3 Walsall
May 7: AFC Bournemouth 6–0 Hartlepool United

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Sheff Wed 46 29 12 5 82 34 +48 99 2nd P Bristol C 46 25 12 9 75 47 +28 87 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3rd P Hull 46 24 11 11 74 43 +31 83 4th Swindon 46 22 12 12 67 49 +18 78 5th Tranmere 46 23 9 14 65 52 +13 78 6th Colchester 46 20 13 13 73 59 +14 73 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------7th Bradford City 46 18 15 13 61 52 +9 69 8th Oldham 46 18 13 15 65 46 +19 67 9th Wrexham 46 18 12 16 58 57 +1 66 10th Brentford 46 16 15 15 65 61 +4 63 11th Doncaster 46 17 11 18 61 63 -2 62 12th Blackpool 46 16 14 16 62 65 -3 62 13th Torquay 46 15 15 16 63 66 -3 60 14th Walsall 46 13 19 14 52 57 -5 58 15th Stockport 46 14 15 17 45 54 -9 57 16th Barnsley 46 13 15 18 52 66 -14 54 17th Bournemouth 46 13 13 20 69 73 -4 52 18th Luton 46 11 17 18 57 66 -9 50 19th Huddersfield 46 12 14 20 49 58 -9 50 20th MK Dons 46 12 14 20 50 62 -12 50 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------21st R Chesterfield 46 13 11 22 49 62 -13 50 22nd R Port Vale 46 13 10 23 55 78 -23 49 23rd R Peterborough 46 9 15 22 61 88 -27 42 24th R Hartlepool 46 9 11 26 46 98 -52 38</pre>

How (terribly) our reserve and U18 teams did:

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Brighton 42 27 9 6 91 39 +52 90 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Hull 42 24 9 9 84 50 +34 81 3rd York 42 23 10 9 73 54 +19 79 4th Bradford City 42 23 7 12 73 48 +25 76 5th Yeovil 42 21 10 11 74 57 +17 73 6th Scunthorpe 42 20 11 11 68 46 +22 71 7th Plymouth 42 20 11 11 79 61 +18 71 8th Blackpool 42 21 7 14 65 42 +23 70 9th Rochdale 42 20 10 12 70 63 +7 70 10th Darlington 42 19 11 12 70 63 +7 68 11th Exeter 42 16 14 12 67 61 +6 62 12th Halifax 42 14 12 16 57 69 -12 54 13th Carlisle 42 14 10 18 56 60 -4 52 14th Crawley 42 15 5 22 59 69 -10 50 15th Accrington 42 13 9 20 56 69 -13 48 16th Scarborough 42 14 5 23 49 69 -20 47 17th Bournemouth 42 11 12 19 52 69 -17 45 18th Torquay 42 12 7 23 54 71 -17 43 19th Morecambe 42 12 7 23 49 70 -21 43 20th Hartlepool 42 9 12 21 37 62 -25 39 21st Leigh RMI 42 10 7 25 52 83 -31 37 22nd Gravesend 42 5 3 34 35 95 -60 18</pre>

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">Pos Inf Team Pld Won Drn Lst For Ag G.D. Pts----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------1st C Newcastle 22 14 6 2 38 18 +20 48 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2nd Blackpool 22 14 5 3 36 21 +15 47 3rd Bradford City 22 11 4 7 38 23 +15 37 4th Hull 22 10 5 7 35 30 +5 35 5th Sunderland 22 10 5 7 29 26 +3 35 6th Middlesbrough 22 9 5 8 27 30 -3 32 7th Grimsby 22 7 8 7 33 30 +3 29 8th Carlisle 22 7 6 9 30 28 +2 27 9th Hartlepool 22 7 6 9 30 33 -3 27 10th Doncaster 22 5 8 9 22 37 -15 23 11th Darlington 22 4 4 14 17 37 -20 16 12th Bury 22 2 2 18 21 43 -22 8</pre>

retired_heathermarie

2004/05 Recap

Premier Division: Arsenal
Championship: Preston North End
League One: Sheffield Wednesday
League Two: Chester City
Conference National: York City
Conference North: Worksop Town
Conference South: Sutton United

FA Cup: Arsenal
League Cup: Chelsea
LDV Vans Trophy: Boston United
FA Trophy: Crawley Town
Under 18s Cup: Manchester City
Community Shield: Arsenal

UEFA Champions League: Chelsea (England)
UEFA Cup: Inter Milan (Italy)
European Super Cup: Valencia (Spain)
Intercontinental Cup: Once Caldas (Colombia)

Relegated from Premier Division: Charlton Athletic, Manchester City, West Bromwich Albion
Promoted to Premier Division: Preston North End, Wigan Athletic, West Ham United
Relegated from Championship: Millwall, Burnley, Watford
Promoted to Championship: Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City, Hull City
Relegated from League One: Chesterfield, Port Vale, Peterborough United, Hartlepool United
Promoted to League One: Chester City, Oxford United, Boston United, Notts County
Relegated from League Two: Yeovil Town, Lincoln City
Promoted to League Two: York City, Barnet
Relegated from Conference National: Northwich Victoria, Scarborough, Morecambe
Promoted to Conference National: Worksop Town, Sutton United, Bradford Park Avenue
Relegated from Conference North/South: Kettering Town, Vauxhall Motors, Altrincham (North), Bishop's Stortford, Newport County, Bognor Regis (South)
Promoted to Conference North/South: Burscough, Gateshead, Hednesford Town, Hyde United (North), Bath City, Kingstonian (South)

retired_edmari

Bad luck on the drop Still, keep working at it and you'll be at Forest in no time