Crabby Shrimper
President
Well, found out early yesterday that I had today off. managed to get a ticket at the last minute (thanks to Its grim up north) and made my merry way down to the Liberty stadium.
Leaving at around 11 ish, I set off for a gentle stroll through the enterprise park from my home in Birchgrove. It was a lovely day
and I was looking forward to the match.
Around 12 ish I arrived at the ground
After the obligatory trip to the Morfa parc pub, I met up with Chris, got my ticket, and entered the ground. First off I found my seat, and had a look at the empty stadium's insides for the first time
Though it soon filled out a bit
Anyway, on to the match.
The opening exchanges were fairly frenetic, with swansea having a bit of possession. The first opportunities fell to us though, with the swans keeper being forced into a save.
Then, disaster! Fallon, the pricey non scoring signing decided to actually do what he's paid for, and score! To be fair it was a lovely shot, just curling in and leaving Flahavan with little chance, I wasn't in the mood though for applauding the skill, I was gutted! For seconds the crowd were silent, then someone started singing again, and before you know it we're back to full volume. Now that must've given the team a lift!
More spells of possesion for both teams, Swansea looking dangerous on the break, but not really having the cutting edge. Eastwood a handful every time he got the ball. Then it happened! Eastwood did what he does best, scores! Picked the ball up from Gower just outside the area, beat a couple of defenders, and then hit it past Guerret. Game on!
Well, so we thought until a few minutes Fallon popped up again with a header after a nice build up, and poor defending. Again we carried on singing, again we carried the fight, this time though we got a good break, 2 on 2, and the ref pulls it back to give us a free kick on the half way line! As if that wasnt enough, from the resulting free kick Barret got into the box and was pushed over. Penalty? Not with this ref!
Half time, and a chance to watch the highlights and have a beer. Saw the penalty appeal again, and outside of the box we'd have gotten a free kick (from a normal ref) but a penalty may have been optimistic.
2nd half, and we're back at 'em. No joy though, and a few good breaks by Swansea. In fact we were kept in the game by flahavan who made a string of three absolutely top notch saves, including a close range effort from Trundle (who, to his credit, congratulated Flahavan on the save)
Then, 63 minutes, people talking about subs, and what should happen? yep, it's that man again, Freddy Eastwood bags another. By this time some of the swans fans started letting their heads drop, and we started looking the more likely to score.
Trundle subbed for Knight, we took off Goater and Bradbury, and on came Gray and Bentley and the gamwe petered out into a stalemate as the ref gave a succession of dodgy decisions all the way of Swansea.
final whistle, and some elements of the crowd break into cheering and applauding. Word went around, Hartlepool had scored. Someone came on the pitch, Barret was asking him the score, then, the players went what can only be described as f****n mental!
brilliant atmosphere, and thanks to all the Swans who stayed to applaud our team at the end, it was a nice gesture, and hopefully we'll see you next season.
Players who shone?
For me it was a close call between three.
Flahavan was outstanding in goal. A bit taller and he may have saved one of the goals, well, if he was 8' anyway! no, seriously, a much improved display on the last time I saw him and definitely kept us in the match!
Maher was his usual quietly commanding self. I rarely see him doin anything spectacular, but he's always in the thick of it, making important interceptions/headers, dictating the play, and generally being the team's heartbeat.
Eastwood! What can i say? Scored two,and looked the most dangerous player on the pitch.
I heard Goater getting some stick, as usual, but to be fair it'd have been more appropriate for us to have played a climbing frame up front, as thats what the Swans defence seemed to be wanting to do. Got no protection from the ref either.
A final note to end on, here's the first thing i saw when i got in.
Enjoy!
Leaving at around 11 ish, I set off for a gentle stroll through the enterprise park from my home in Birchgrove. It was a lovely day
and I was looking forward to the match.
Around 12 ish I arrived at the ground
After the obligatory trip to the Morfa parc pub, I met up with Chris, got my ticket, and entered the ground. First off I found my seat, and had a look at the empty stadium's insides for the first time
Though it soon filled out a bit
Anyway, on to the match.
The opening exchanges were fairly frenetic, with swansea having a bit of possession. The first opportunities fell to us though, with the swans keeper being forced into a save.
Then, disaster! Fallon, the pricey non scoring signing decided to actually do what he's paid for, and score! To be fair it was a lovely shot, just curling in and leaving Flahavan with little chance, I wasn't in the mood though for applauding the skill, I was gutted! For seconds the crowd were silent, then someone started singing again, and before you know it we're back to full volume. Now that must've given the team a lift!
More spells of possesion for both teams, Swansea looking dangerous on the break, but not really having the cutting edge. Eastwood a handful every time he got the ball. Then it happened! Eastwood did what he does best, scores! Picked the ball up from Gower just outside the area, beat a couple of defenders, and then hit it past Guerret. Game on!
Well, so we thought until a few minutes Fallon popped up again with a header after a nice build up, and poor defending. Again we carried on singing, again we carried the fight, this time though we got a good break, 2 on 2, and the ref pulls it back to give us a free kick on the half way line! As if that wasnt enough, from the resulting free kick Barret got into the box and was pushed over. Penalty? Not with this ref!
Half time, and a chance to watch the highlights and have a beer. Saw the penalty appeal again, and outside of the box we'd have gotten a free kick (from a normal ref) but a penalty may have been optimistic.
2nd half, and we're back at 'em. No joy though, and a few good breaks by Swansea. In fact we were kept in the game by flahavan who made a string of three absolutely top notch saves, including a close range effort from Trundle (who, to his credit, congratulated Flahavan on the save)
Then, 63 minutes, people talking about subs, and what should happen? yep, it's that man again, Freddy Eastwood bags another. By this time some of the swans fans started letting their heads drop, and we started looking the more likely to score.
Trundle subbed for Knight, we took off Goater and Bradbury, and on came Gray and Bentley and the gamwe petered out into a stalemate as the ref gave a succession of dodgy decisions all the way of Swansea.
final whistle, and some elements of the crowd break into cheering and applauding. Word went around, Hartlepool had scored. Someone came on the pitch, Barret was asking him the score, then, the players went what can only be described as f****n mental!
brilliant atmosphere, and thanks to all the Swans who stayed to applaud our team at the end, it was a nice gesture, and hopefully we'll see you next season.
Players who shone?
For me it was a close call between three.
Flahavan was outstanding in goal. A bit taller and he may have saved one of the goals, well, if he was 8' anyway! no, seriously, a much improved display on the last time I saw him and definitely kept us in the match!
Maher was his usual quietly commanding self. I rarely see him doin anything spectacular, but he's always in the thick of it, making important interceptions/headers, dictating the play, and generally being the team's heartbeat.
Eastwood! What can i say? Scored two,and looked the most dangerous player on the pitch.
I heard Goater getting some stick, as usual, but to be fair it'd have been more appropriate for us to have played a climbing frame up front, as thats what the Swans defence seemed to be wanting to do. Got no protection from the ref either.
A final note to end on, here's the first thing i saw when i got in.
Enjoy!
