by Jeff King
A crucial crunch game for United at home this Saturday as fellow play-off chasing opponents F.C. Hartlepool come to The Hub. F.C. having been before this season in The FA Vase and going away with a 3 - 0 win on 21st September last year.
Before that we go way back to the 17th August when in the League fixture at Grayfields, our visitors today took a 1 – 0 home win courtesy of an Ollie Barnett own goal late on. A game we perhaps deserved at least a point out of.
So two losses and no goals scored against F.C. Hartlepool gives us an idea of the magnitude of our task today. On their day which is more often than not, FC Hartlepool are a match for anyone in the Division.
They currently sit in 8th place with 48 points from 29 games having won 15 drawn 3 and lost 11 scoring 63 goals and conceding 49. Their current form is up and down with 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in their last six league games.
That includes a 3 – 2 loss to Sunderland West End in their last league game and they've also lost 3 – 1 to Whickham recently during that run in the semi-final of the Durham Challenge Cup.
Their two dangermen in a squad that possess plenty of quality throughout are Mickey McGee who has 23 goals in all competitions including 18 in the league and Nathan Bayles who includes 12 league goals in his overall tally of 15 for the season. Both scored in that Vase game with McGee netting twice.
So, a tough game beckons and even more so after we lost our last game in controversial circumstances at Thornaby last weekend 2 - 1. That ended another great run in the League. We did bounce back well in midweek to beat Grangetown BC 2 - 1 in the League Cup on Tuesday to take us through to the last 16 but whilst cup success is great it's the League and those possible play-offs that we're looking for. A win today against a serious rival for those positions would be a great boost to our chances and get us right back in amongst the contenders once again.
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