As expected, Mark Innes kept his place this afternoon as Derek Niven sat out a one-match ban. Gareth Davies was drafted onto the bench.
Line-up:
MUGGLETON
BAILEY EVATT O'HARE NICHOLSON
ALLOTT FOWLER INNES HUDSON
ALLISON FOLAN
Subs: Richmond (gk), Dawson, N'Toya, DeBolla, Davies.
Most of Chesterfield's play the first half was at a measured pace as the side set about putting short-ish passing moves together. Hartlepool were more straightforwardly direct, and this approach saw then have the better of the chances.Tinkler commendably made nothing of an accidental Allott elbow in the first minute and Hartlepool missed a fine chance on 6: Porter found Boyd on the break and he tried to lift the ball over the advancing Muggleton. In doing so, he took the pace off the ball, and Carl was able to deny him with ease.
When Chesterfield did go long, they fashioned a 20th-minute chance for Allott, after Folan flicked on Muggleton's kick. Mark's shot went at Konstantopolos in the Pools' goal, though. A good Allott run on 33 saw him cross: it went through to Innes on the other wing and he fed Nicholson, whose cross was headed by Allison into the path of Folan. Caleb slid, but couldn't connect as the ball ran out for a goal kick. Porter then had a fine chance to give the visitors the lead but shot wide from 12 yards after latching on to a long through ball.
Sweeney hooked a shot wide on 44. The last action of the first half saw Fowler deservedly booked for pulling down Porter as he attempted to run through the middle of the defence.
Halftime: 0-0.
The first action of the second half saw Fowler sent off. Porter again was the recipient of a foul, but this time it was in the centre-circle and with plenty of Chesterfield men between the incident and the goal. The ref whipped the card out rather too sharpish for my liking, and Fowler trooped disconsolately back to the dressing rooms. As Chesterfield sought to reorganise Nelson headed wide from an unmarked position.
Hartlepool took the lead on 54. Boyd broke into the box and shot: it was blocked, but luckily for him the rebound came nicely into his path and he buried it at Muggleton's near post.
Nicholson and Sweeney tangled on 55 but no action was taken against either player. N'Toya replaced Folan on 59. The air of unpredictability and improvement in ground work that came about as a result improved the Spireite threat to the Hartlepool goal. Tcham's first action, immediately after coming on, was to get on the end of an Allison flick from an Allott throw: not quite with the effect of his goal at home to Port Vale in August, but it forced Konstantopolos into a save.
Innes was baulked in the box on 63 while waiting for an Allott cross to drop, but penalty claims were ignored. O'Hare maintained composure and headed a Humphreys cross over his own bar on 67. On 70 minutes Allott again got down the right and delivered a centre that Allison headed against the foot of the post. From the break, the ref gave a throw the wrong way and Bailey was forced to head over his own bar from bang underneath it.
Williams replaced Porter on 72. Innes received a nasty kick over the eye on 76 but continued after Jamie had an Angelo Dundee moment with the Vaseline. On 80 minutes the ball was played into their box and Allison received as plain a shove in the back as you'll ever see. So, no pen, then. With desperation mounting Hudson shot a little over a minute later. DeBolla replaced Bailey with six minutes left.
On 85 Allott broke down the inside of the penalty box and was pulled back, nut he continued to centre for Allison, who headed narrowly over. N'Toya shot wide as desperation gave way to despair. Boyd was booked for chesting the ball away after being caught offside in the 89th minute.
Eight days ago most of us thought we might have got something from this, but lost to Hull and Bristol. Although there is (compared to those other two sides) less complexity to what Hartlepool do, they do it with great effect. They have two forwards with pace, so they use that, and their side has an admirable work ethic that saw their later defending today start with their forwards when our defenders had the ball, and continue all the way back as an attack developed. The Chief worked hard throughout; Allott again looked good. The rest of the midfield battled well but were men in plimsolls trying to kick down a huge oak door. The backline was occasionally caught by pace, but they won't play against such pace again this season. Despite that they held their shape well. Nicholson and Bailey both played through injury: I thought Bailey looked to be feeling his ankle early in the first half, and Nicholson was reduced to passenger status for a period of the second, before running it off. Had we kept all eleven on, it might have made a difference: after a good first half, the ref went a bit Fred on us and sent Fowler off for a fairly ordinary looking foul, of which there were 16 more in the game - but not eight more dismissals. Consistency is all we ask for.
SB
