Pools 1 - MK Dons 1

AS I SEEN IT

RUNNING MONKEY sees the Franchise Club

I know I should be more respectful of a fellow league team but something’s just stick in your craw and after all they did get in the league under false pretences.

On top of that they invariably beat us and because of their home support are one of the wealthier clubs in the division. But I say anyone can get debt but not everyone can pay it back. Suffice to say I am not a fan of MK Dons. Today we had the added bonus to our list of dislikes when the team sheet had not only the name Dean Lewington but also the ex L***s player Alan Smith on loan from the Toon. 

I spoke to Billy Reed on coming into the Vic and he told me he had been chatting with the ref for the day Mr A. Haines, who I thought was a TV comedian of yesteryear, who told him that the Dons had not brought enough players and had two injuries in the warm up so had to put a sixteen year old on the bench. 

 On the way to the ground today I listened to Brian Arrundale on Tees and he was reviewing the week and his comment on the farce of last Saturday brought a glimmer of a smile. He said “I started off listening to the Wycombe game sitting on the couch, by the end I was behind the couch." He did praise the team for their comeback against Bury and thought today we would have a hard game but he was going for a draw. My guess is that would have been the wish of most Poolies today; looking at the team sheet we looked strong enough, with Brownie and Poole up front and the new loan player Sammy Adjei from the Toon on the bench.

One of the quotes from Mr Arrundale on Cooper in the dressing room was “You are the home team do not let the visitors boss you around.” This looked to be true in the very early stages as Horwood sent in a great cross on his first run but it was headed clear. His second cross after a foul on Brownie was cleared and Hartley hit a long shot over the bar. MK were fast on the break and played some great approach play leaving some of the Pools lads standing watching and at time they caused panic around the box with some good off the ball running and some slick one touch football. 

Aussie made a great block and Ned was off the blocks smartish to punch a cross from Luke Chadwick clear. The midfield for Pools were giving the ball up too easily. RH in particular was having a mare as the visitors pressed in numbers. Murray for me was the star man today, always ready to jump in and break up any threat, but he was fighting a lone battle, and it proves how much we miss Lidds in the middle. If only we had another Murray who could play a bit higher and distribute some clean balls, we would be world beaters - to see the ball getting wellied or headed aimlessly up the field and coming straight back is disheartening. 

On one incident where RH was crowded out and off the ball, Chadwick raced through and blasted a shot that hit the left post and was eventually cleared by Hartley, who, in my opinion, should lead the team on the pitch next season.On the next attack there was a scream for a penalty as Powell the ex-Darlo forward did a triple somersault with pike in the box after a Hartley challenge, but old Arthur Haines just waved play on, rightly so. About five minutes after this event in a pause in play the whole MK team surrounded Mr Haines in Italian style badgering and gesturing that he should have blown for a Pelanty (Someone tell Waddle it is PENALTY.)

"On the next attack there was a scream for a penalty as Powell the ex-Darlo forward did a triple somersault with pike in the box after a Hartley challenge."

MK were a slick team playing some high tempo football and we struggled to keep up, and it was all hands to the pumps at times as they pinned us back for long periods, and it was only our good luck and their poor finishing that let them down. My mate Ken and I were discussing the half as it neared its end and both agreed to go in all square after the battering we took would be a bonus, just as Sam was making a forced back header to Ned, who obviously had not called out to Sam and was left grasping for a ball in danger of going past him and over the line. With this being a family show I will not repeat what Sam called him.

Another chop on Brownie brought us a free kick just wide right of their box twenty yards out. Murray took the kick and floated a ball to the back post where Monky rose and headed it down to the waiting Poole and we were one nil up with a few minutes to half time. Not to be outdone, RH sent in a screamer that the keeper palmed away for a corner.

Half time chat was as expected, a “thoroughly deserved lead” and if you believe that then I am a monkey’s uncle. On the turn around you always feel more comfortable kicking the right way and you feel you can participate in the battle when hammering at the town end goal. Well that is my opinion. 

There was a number twenty two on the visitors team that was not on the team sheet so I take him to be a ringer but he was probably the best player on the park. He strolled with ease and just glided past some tackles and was at the heart of most of the play for the Dons. 

The goal for the Dons was after another nothing tackle where a Dons player cuddles the grass for no apparent reason other than a Pools player running past him and the whistle is blown, despite us upping our game and making a contest of it the opposition and the ref seemed to think it was an unfair contest and he blew more and more every time they laid down. This is annoying and farcical, and I only wish for once we could ever benefit on a level field with teams who seem to revel in this type of play. The free kick was duly taken and a goal resulted; poor defending at the back was again the problem. Baldwin was brought on to bolster the defence in place of RH. 

 Sweeney was doing better down the Millhouse side and a cross found Hartley whose header was scrambled away. At the other end it looked as if Chadwick who, despite his years, still looks a good player seemed to hit both posts with his effort with Ned beat. A drag back on Murray gave us a chance to get back in to them but Brownie shot over the bar. 

A lot of footballers come down from their lofty perches, seem to ignore referees, and in fact put some of them right on their handling of the game. Alan Smith went too far today with his gob after an awful tackle on Baldwin, who should be commended for his calm approach to the incident. No histrionics, no trying to get the man booked, just wanted to get on with the game. Smith talked himself into the book but it mystifies me why refs put up with this stuff. Even after he was booked he was still trying to tell the ref where he was going wrong. Why do they just not send them straight off for back chat then they might come to their senses? 

Both the new boy Adjei and Boydie were brought on for Poole and Brownie. Neither of them made a great deal of difference in this game. Adjei looked good until he went down with what is reported to be a hamstring problem which looks ominous as he has had a long lay off with the same injury, and goes out the first game back. Lets hope we are wrong and he learns the Horwood Lazarus trick.

So at the start of the game someone said we only need ten men to beat this lot and that is what we ended up with. Boydie made one useful contribution: a flick on for Sweeney, who, running in, hit his shot wide of the mark. A hard fought point was probably more than we deserved on the balance of play but we did rally in the second half so I will take that. 

MK did bring on their young sub who was sixteen, and some said he had to get changed in a cupboard as he was not old enough to be with grown men. And calls from the town end of  “does your mother know you are out?” did not faze the kid, and he dived as well as his senior counterparts when the time come.