• Nigel Adkins has been given the Tranmere job on a permanent basis signing until the end of the 25/26 season. Continue the discussion here.

League Two Hartlepool v Rovers

Match result

  • Hartlepool

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Draw

    Votes: 2 25.0%
  • Tranmere

    Votes: 6 75.0%

  • Total voters
    8
  • Poll closed .
Hartlepool v Rovers
Posted by Ian
Victoria Park
Tuesday, August 16, 2022 - 07:45 PM
Until: Tuesday, August 16, 2022 - 10:00 PM
(Adjusted for timezone: Europe/London)
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Boz

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Iain Hume
Rovers looked the better side, but Pools had a couple of good chances. It was telling that our best goal attempts came from midfielders in McAlear and Hawkes, while Nevitt industrious but fluffed his lines, Mumbongo isn't match ready and Hemmings was strangely subdued. I think we do need a couple more additions including a striker, to give more options.

Defensively Jamieson had a very good first half and Byrne probably his best game in a Rovers shirt against his old club. I'd agree that we didn't look nearly as comfortable when switching to a back four. I haven't seen Hockenhull play, but we've had youngsters (Jamieson and Robinson) as two of the back three already, so if he's as capable as suggested when we signed him, why not stick with three at the back? As Turnbull's likely to be out for at least 7 days with concussion, that's a decision to be re-visited for Newport.

I agree with RLC that the quality of the football away from home tonight was a significant improvement on last season and the players were looking for opportunities to try and attack. There are signs that the new more positive approach is working, but we all knew it wasn't going to be an instant fix.
 
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We’ve got to come up with the odd away win if we’re serious about being contenders; just feels like a missed opportunity the way the game panned out. Hopefully we’ll have similar games on our travels with the stats in our favour but including the most important one… three points!
 
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I haven't seen Hockenhull play, but we've had youngsters (Jamieson and Robinson) as two of the back three already, so if he's as capable as suggested when we signed him, why not stick with three at the back?
Jameson and Robinson were fine at Accrington when Turnbull was alongside them, but they were poor without him against Stevenage. I suppose that is the concern for Mellon.
 

Boz

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Jameson and Robinson were fine at Accrington when Turnbull was alongside them, but they were poor without him against Stevenage. I suppose that is the concern for Mellon.
Fair point. Byrne for all his strengths doesn't have the same knack of organising a defence as Turnbull.
 

Ian

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Last edited:
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Interesting that Turnbull has an eye injury rather than concussion. I suppose that means he could theoretically be available on Saturday.
 

bigmart

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We still look well short of goals and options up front, Mumbongo looked well short of fitness last night and we have no other option up front to.put pressure on Hemmings and Nevitt
 

Ian

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I still think, and this was a problem last season, we are not playing to Hemmings' strength. He plays an awful lot of times with his back to goal, mostly trying to hold up the ball. He needs to be in the box, facing the goal, feeding him with balls into the box, he will score a lot more. He's far too deep at times.
 

ADD

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A solid performance in my book where ultimately we didn't create enough and what we did create was poorly finished. Nevitt really wasn't good and missed a couple of decent chances.
I would agree with Ian about Hemmings and would prefer him playing much further forward - he was playing behind Mumbongo when he came on which in my book is not the best use of him - he needs to be our front man and not Nevitt who isn't technically good enough or Mumbongo who doesn't look remotely fit. We need to be careful he doesn't start to get frustrated - there were a couple of signs today I felt.
Defensively I thought we were again very good and Jameson until the formation switch at least is really starting to look like a decent player. Liked his couple of runs forward - confidence clearly building. Bristow and Dacres Cogley again excellent whilst for me Merrie was again excellent also and was always there as an outlet.
Criticisms - again not enough outright chances created as mentioned and Doohan's distribution still poor - twice kicked straight to their Keeper - good save with his chest however.
All in all I think that will prove to be a decent result against a team who I thought in contrast to others were better than Gillingham and will finish up in a decent position.
 

Boz

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I’m not sure Nevitt was playing the more central of the forward pair, certainly in the first half he spent some time on the left.

It sounded from the pre-season reports that we’d sorted out the supply route to Hemmings, but now he seems to have to come deep again to get the ball.
 

Ian

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I think Hawkes had more shots than Hemmings and he only came on in the 65th minute! Hemmings is a really good finisher, which makes it even more frustrating.
 

bigmart

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I think Hawkes had more shots than Hemmings and he only came on in the 65th minute! Hemmings is a really good finisher, which makes it even more frustrating.
We switched system once Turnbull went off and Hemmings was playing deeper leaving Mumbongo up front on his own
 

Boz

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While I’d have opted for Byrne or Bristow last night, he played well in the left side of a central back three and like ADD, impressed with another side of his gane the carrying the ball forward.
 
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Not a bad turnaround after the OTT reactions a few weeks ago.

Absolutely. It says a lot about Kyle and the club. Clearly, he is determined to make a go at establishing himself after the disaster at Oldham last season. In the interview on the OS, he recognises what a bad start he made in our first match, but he is working to maintain consistency. The club itself must have spotted his potential and then supported him, even after the Stevenage game. It speaks volumes for Kyle's resilience and the club's man management.
 
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