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Warren — FM 2011 Hartlepool United December 2010/11
Hi everyone and welcome back to Hartlepool and the next edition of my story of the raising of Hartlepool United to the Premiership. At the end of November we were in 3rd place just one point off 1st position so it was an important month to set us up for the business end of the season. In December we would have a total of 7 games so a possibility of getting 21 points this month.
V Brighton (h) 4th December 2010
The first game of the month was against Brighton who are currently two places below us in 5th position. I was always going to be a close game but like always you think that your team is going to come out on top.
We were so close to getting all three points but Liam Bridcutt scored in the 87th minute to deny as and for Brighton to get a share of the three points. This match was definitely two points dropped and we were going to have to get them back when we face Colchester in the next game.
V Colchester (h) 11th December 2010
For our second consecutive home game we now had the visit of Colchester United to Victoria Park. Colchester were in 15th place and having a decent season. They had a tight defence who rarely conceded but the problem for Colchester is that they had no-one to put the ball into the back of the net so they also scored less. I was hoping one goal would win this match.
That’s exactly what happened in the end as we came out of the game with all three points thanks to Haris Vuckic whose movement and awareness got him the goal that his performance deserved.
V Sheff Wed (a) 14th December 2010
In our first away game of the season we were now going to face Sheffield Wednesday who were relegated last season into League 1 and are in a lot of money trouble and in 9th place just outside the play-offs.
Considering who we were playing and the position that they are in with the money and the position I was delighted that we ran out 4-0 winners in a terrific match for Hartlepool and a bit of a dire result for the home side. A brace from Donaldson and goals from Lowry and Vuckic were scorers in this brilliant game.
V Bristol Rovers (h) 18th December 2010
It was now time for the biggest game of the season so far with a match against table toppers Bristol Rovers. If we were going to win this game then we would be the new team at the top of the table.
As it turns out Hartlepool were the new leaders with a 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers with goals coming from Liddle who is on a bit of a scoring streak at the moment and Vuckic sealed all three points.
V Leyton Orient (a) 26th December 2010
Now it was time to face a Leyton Orient side who had won the last three games in a row so they were on a bit of a run and it was up to us to stop the good run of form that they had.
In the end it was a bit of an easy win with Hartlepool running out as 2-0 winners for the second successive game. This time goals came from Vuckic and Brown both goals coming late in the second half.
V Brentford (a) 28th December 2010
The last away game of the month saw us face Brentford and I was hoping to get my first double over a team this season.
Surprisingly for the first time in 14 games I had last a match and it also stopped a run of four straight wins. What made the result worse was that the winner game from former Newcastle flop Carl Cort and Ryan Donaldson missed a penalty. It was a shame that we had lost but we were not going to let this affect us.
V Rochdale (h) 31st December 2010
In the last game of the month we faced Rochdale who we had already beaten this season and surely this would be the game where we would get our first double of the season.
Indeed it was with just one goal separating the side and that came from James Brown in the 65th minute of the match.
December Results
Another fantastic month it was just a shame that we couldn’t have our second consecutive unbeaten month as that would have been extremely good.
Table
I have to apologise as I got a bit carried away and I am now into January and I have forgotten to take a screenshot of the league table but I can tell you that I remember being top of the table which is a fantastic achievement considering that I was predicted to be struggling to stay in the league.
Performance of the month
There was quite a few this month but it came down to just two which were the 4-0 vs Sheff Wednesday and the 2-0 vs Bristol Rovers. I decided to go for the Sheff Wednesday game as it was a win against I team that have had a decent season and were in the championship last season so it gives me hope for next season in picking up points if I get to the Championship.
Thanks for reading
Warren
P.S Check out the performance of the week video and other matches from my YouTube site at http://www.youtube.com/user/fmlegend92?feature=mhum