GrangeParkCobbler
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« on: October 06, 2021, 16:25:15 pm » |
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Its a 400 mile round trip to the North East this Saturday (for those travelling from Northampton at least) to renew our rivalries with Hartlepool United. Hartlepools...as they used to be known, were formed in 1908 and took over the old amateur side West Hartlepool, presumably two became one hence the plural!
They have never played above the third tier in English football, though they were at that level for eight out of nine seasons as recently as 2013. Relegation to League 2 was followed in 2017 by relegation to the Conference. After an unspectacular first three years at that level (15th, 16th, 12th) success finally came back last season as they beat Torquay United at Ashton Gate in the playoff final.
This season has again been unspectacular, they sit 13th with four wins, four defeats and two draws. They have only scored nine goals in their 10 games, but have conceded the same number. That is an identical record to us. All four wins have come at home, they have drawn two games including a Papa Johns game with Morecambe last night, their only defeat at Victoria Park came in the EFL Cup to Crewe.
Dave Challinor is the man at the helm, the long time Fylde manager took over in November last year and has overseen 25 wins in his 54 games in charge this far. He won four promotions during his time at Fylde, guiding the side from the Northern League Division 1 North through to the premier to the Conference North and then into the Conference itself, he also oversaw their FA Trophy win in 2019 and had his team just 90 minutes from the Football League before defeat to Salford in that years playoff final.
Cobblers connections present are limited to goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell, although he is yet to make a league appearance he has featured in all their cup games including that 2-2 draw with Morecambe last night.
Tyler Burey is their top league goalscorer with three although the Millwall loanee is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury and has been out for four weeks now. Gavan Holohan is next in the list with two but he wnet off injured in the same game as Burey, this time with a groin injury, and he hasn't featured since either.
Head to head over the years.....as OAP alludes to, we don't have much success at their place but overall the two teams have met on 67 occasions and we lead 28 to 24 in the wins column. This will be our first visit to Victoria Park since 2016, that game ended goalless in front of a crowd of 4012. Four straight defeats prior to that and not a goal scored, so we have to go back to February 2008 to find our last goal and win....a 1-0 success thanks to substitute Giles Coke's 82nd minute strike. There have been 34 games in all competitions between us at Victoria Park and we have won just 5, losing in 23 others.....not a happy hunting ground.
Ben Toner will take charge of the game, the Lancashire based whistler has handled 11 games this season, giving out just 23 yellows and one red card. Last seasons totals were 96 yellows in 32 games along with two reds. We last crossed swords with him at Wimbledon in March of this year, we escaped without a booking in our 1-0 defeat there. His last Hartlepool assignment was actually the game that sent them down to the Conference.....defeat at Cheltenham back in April 2017.
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